Ted Williams History at Deep Wood Lodge

---

I do not have every detail about Ted Williams and his connection to Deep Wood Lodge; but I do have some significant information and lots of photos. In all came about one day in October about 7 years back. i was sitting on the porch of the lodge looking at the Cains River with a drink in my hand with several of my pals with me. A car drove in and a lady got out and approached us. She asked if she could look around. I said or course! It turns out she was the daughter of a cook who worked at the lodge for years. The cook's name was Jack McKay. He was a cook and caretaker for the lodge for years when the owner was Curtiss Hutchings. The lodge was a very active place all thru the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. It turns out that one of Curtiss' best friends was Ted Williams.

You may know Ted Williams as the Hall of Fame (inducted in 1966) left fielder who played for the Boston Red Sox from 1939-1942 and 1946-1960. Ted Williams was also a 17-time Triple Crown Winner, and the last man to bat over .400 for a season-.406 in 1941. Williams also served in the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps during World War II and flew as a marine pilot during the Korean War. Finally, Williams also managed the Washington Senators/Texas Rangers franchise from 1969-1972.

Williams passed away in 2002, but if he were alive today, he would tell you that baseball was only his second favorite pastime. Fly Fishing was the sport he truly loved. "The Kid" or "The Splendid Splinter," as Williams was known during his baseball years, became an avid and expert fly fisherman and deep-sea angler during his baseball career.

John Underwood co-authored a book with Ted Williams title Ted Williams Fishing "The Big Three," (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1982). Ubderwood wrote that Williams would fish anywhere, any time. He caught Black Marlin in New Zealand and Tiger Fish in the Zambezi River in Mozambique, and he caught these and other fish with different kinds of tackle, in and on all types of water. Underwood described very nicely what it was like to fly fish with Williams.

"To fish with Williams and emerge with you sensitivities intact is to undertake the voyage between Scylla and Charyybdis. It is delicate work, but it can be done, and it can be enjoyable. It most certainly will be educational. An open boat with The Kid just does not happen to be the place for one with the heart of a fawn or the ear of a rabbit. Even his friends called him the Captain Queeg of Fishing. There are four things to remember: one, he is a perfectionist; two, he is better at it that you are; three, he is a consummate needler; and four, he is in charge. He brings to fishing the same hard-eyed intensity, the same brooding capacity for the scientific inquiry, he brought to hitting a baseball."