Mike Hamner became a legend when he followed the nationwide fad and streaked across Valdosta State College’s baseball field in March 1974 and was arrested a few days later. Since then, the Covington resident, who taught special education emotional and behavior disorder for 31 years in Lowndes, Gwinnett, Rockdale and Newton County school systems, has distinguished himself in more socially acceptable ways, including being named Newton County Teacher of the Year in 2005. Last fall, the Norman Park native, who attended Valdosta State on a tennis scholarship and played No. 2 in singles, was inducted into the Colquitt County Sports Hall of Fame for tennis. And he and his wife, Sheryl, are active members of Covington’s First Baptist Church where he serves as a deacon, and, yes, his pastor knows about the streaking incident.

When a friend of Mike’s shared his memories of the streaking incident in our Jan. 25 newspaper, his recollections were a little “rusty,” according to Mike. So here’s what The Streaker thinks he remembers about the incident. Hey, it’s been 3 1/2 decades!

“It is hard to remember all the facts about exactly what happened that long ago. Those were not my finest of times anyway, so I guess I don’t dwell on them too often. However, I did make a lot of good friends, some of which I still stay in touch with. John Bradley (assistant principal at Lowndes High) and I play golf together at least once or twice a year, and I see Steve Whitley (head football coach at McEachern High School in Powder Springs) every now and then because he is not far from where I live.”

When I talked to Mike recently and asked if there would be a 35th anniversary streak, he said, “Absolutely not,” that he “very much” regretted the incident.

“As the old expression goes, ‘My mother raised me better than that!’ The worst part of the whole ordeal was her finding out about it, because I know how disappointed in me she was. She was not in good health at that time either which made it even worse.”

It started with a bet

“The whole thing got started with a couple guys kidding me about streaking across the baseball field that day and betting $50 that I would not do it. Well, back then, I wasn’t scared to do most anything. I remember riding motorcycles lying down to get extra speed, clipping the gas throttle so we could ride them standing up, and my brother and I used to catch rattlesnakes to take to the roundup in Whigham, Ga. So it really wasn’t a matter of being scared when I got to the gate that made me chicken out. It was my mother’s voice deep in the back of my mind saying, ‘Mike! I raised you better than that! God will not be pleased with you!’”

That’s when Johnny Caldwell snatched down Mike’s shorts and “some other huge guy” put his foot on them where he could not pull them back up.

“It was now time to run because I certainly wasn’t going to stand there nude. I didn’t need to hear my mother’s voice to tell me that wasn’t the right thing to do. Before I chickened out, the plan was to run from the entrance gate between first base and right field, run by second base, high five my roommate the second baseman, continue running out through the gate at left field.

“By the way, the second baseman, Bobby Tripp, is one of the culprits (who) kept trying to get me to do this. I can’t even begin to say (all) the things he said I would be if I did not do this, but they were not very nice. Tripp could come with names that most people had never thought of. He was quite a character back in those days.”

Not Steve Whitley

“The guy (who) was waiting on the other side to pick me up was (one of) your very own Valdosta High football coaches, Alvin Aiken. He had a 427 Chevy Camaro convertible. (Please don’t ask him anything. My mother would come back from her grave to beat me if she knew half the things that Alvin and I did and half the places we have been. Alvin got me into a lot more dangerous situations than any rattlesnakes could possibly compete with. The problem I hear from a certain Valdosta State head football coach is that when these stories get told now, I am the one that got us into all those situations, and that is simply not true.) ...

“I can see Alvin driving away now as I was trying my best to get this ordeal over with. I was chasing him and finally he slowed down enough for me to dive in.

“I (am) thinking this is finally over. But dear old Alvin decides we need to celebrate. He goes back to the baseball field like he is driving the homecoming queen and drives back and forth behind all the cars in the outfield where the spectators are lying on the cars or standing around.

“Everyone is hollering and honking at us instead of the game. The problem with this is that I still don’t have any clothes except the pink floppy hat (from the former Janice Simpson). Alvin has no towels or anything in his car. I’m begging to go home. Janice wants her hat back. Luckily, she had a towel and I exchanged the hat for the towel. Finally, someone brought my clothes to me.”