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Times Staff WriterBobby Hicks showed his passion for the outdoors as a longtime local sports journalist.
Bobby Hicks probably would have wet his line there. His namesake park boasts a 3-acre pond that's home to alligators, several species of water fowl, panfish, black crappie and, in recent years, channel catfish.
But his widow, India Hicks, will tell you, "Baseball was his first love." In fact, he was a passionate all-around outdoorsman, which served him well as a longtime local sports journalist.
Robert R. "Bobby" Hicks was born in 1911 in New Orleans, and his father died when Hicks was young. At age 12, Hicks moved with his family to Tampa. Hicks grew up in Seminole Heights and graduated from Hillsborough High School.
Influenced by his stepfather, Ralph Lindsey, who was a journeyman printer, Hicks gravitated to the newspaper business. He studied journalism at the University of Florida and worked as a reporter for the Tampa Times in 1930. In 1931, he switched to the Tampa Times' composing room, where he worked for nine years.
Hicks joined the 116th Field Artillery of the National Guard in 1931, and in 1940, Hicks and his unit were activated to serve in World War II. Hicks went to the South Pacific, where he served in New Guinea, the Dutch Indies, Morotai, the North-South Islands and in the Philippines.
He held the rank of major by 1944 and was awarded the Bronze Star, and the Philippines Liberation Medal and Victory Medal, among others.
Hicks returned to Tampa after the war and became a sports writer for the Tampa Tribune in 1946. Hicks joined the Army Reserve in 1948 and remained active with it for the rest of his life.
Hicks' stature grew on the local sports scene throughout the '50s. He served as the Tribune's hunting and fishing editor, wrote the longstanding "Hook, Lyin' and Sinker" fishing column and hosted an early morning fishing show on WFLA radio for several years. In 1956, he launched the Bobby Hicks Show on WFLA-TV.
His TV gig ended when he was named sports editor at the Tampa Tribune in 1961. Several months later, Hicks suffered a heart attack and returned as the paper's hunting and fishing editor.
He was civically active, serving as a Shriner, Mason, member of the Gray Gables-Bon Air Civic Club and a director of the Tampa Tarpon Tournament. He was a director of the Florida Sports Writers Association and a committee member of the Baseball Writers of America, who participated in rule changes for professional baseball.
Hicks died in 1966 of a heart attack. He was 54.
India Hicks, who married Bobby in 1937, remembers her husband as "a wonderful man. He just knew so many people. He made friends easily and kept them a long time." In 1943, they had a son, Bob Jr., who's now a retired Army general living in Tampa. India, a retired budget manager for the Hillsborough County School District, lives in Gray Gables-Bon Air.
Hicks' namesake city park was dedicated in the late 1960s. The Bobby Hicks Memorial Olympic Pool was opened in 1976.