March 5, 2015

JOHN PAUL COBB – Ty’s Little Brother

JOHN PAUL COBB – Ty Cobb’s little brother. Here is a photo that still adorns the hallway at the Sarasota Association of Realtors in Sarasota, Florida where Mr. Cobb was the President in 1934-35.

Paul was a pretty good minor league infielder for the better part of 17 years playing for teams in Jacksonville, Augusta, Royston, Georgia Tech, Terre Haute, Ogden, Sanford, Topeka, Lincoln and Omaha, managing the Jacksonville Tarpons in part of the 1916 season.

Paul lived with his mother at 1155 Orme Circle when he met his wife, Rebecca Smith, of Atlanta, They married June 4, 1923 while he was working as a salesman for the Nunnally Candy Company.

In 1924, Paul and his wife move to Sarasota as full time citizens where Cobb would began his life works. He had owned a 40 acre farm on Peace River in Desoto County since before 1917 and he loved the west coast of Florida.

Paul began selling insurance policies and quickly got into real estate and became closely associated with the “King of the Sawdust Ring,” John Ringling who had relocated the circus’s winter headquarters from Bridgeport, Connecticut to Sarasota in 1927.

You could ask the operator to ring phone number 2308 or you could just open the door at 253 Main Street in Sarasota and you would be greeted with a warm and hearty reply from the former Royston native who looked to make a difference in his new hometown.

Years before in Royston, Paul’s father had became the Franklin County School Commissioner and held that position at the time of his abrupt death. Paul wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps and so he got involved with the Sarasota School Board.

In 1932, Cobb was elected as Chairman of the Sarasota County School Board and he was re-elected in 1936. During his two four-year stints as Chairman, he led the Board’s effort to build one of the first black high schools in Sarasota County. Booker High School, who had their first graduating class in 1935, is still a reminder of the elder Cobb’s efforts towards the “equilibrium of social forces.”

In 1931, Cobb unsuccessfully ran for mayor of Sarasota. Many of his defeats came at the hands of a very wealthy business owner, but Cobb ran on the platform of “the people’s choice.” He ran a very effective campaign promoting the wonderful work he had accomplished in the city.

Cobb was also the Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce Baseball Committee during the early years and was responsible for getting the Boston Red Sox to train at Payne Park in Sarasota. Little of it might be known, but young Thomas Yawkey loved the Cobb’s especially Ty, and he was eager in his association with either of the famous Cobb brothers. The Red Sox began training in Sarasota in 1933 and became only the ninth Major League team to choose Florida for their training grounds.

Cobb was successful in his Sarasota endeavors. He was a member of the Elks Lodge, the Fraternal Order of Eagles, the American Legion and was a member of the Moose Lodge there in Sarasota County. He also sold insurance policies in addition to his baseball promotions around the city.

His hobbies were baseball, hunting and fishing and in that order.

One of his most successful business ventures was the “Grove Heights Subdivision” located blocks away from Sarasota High School. Hundreds of nice little family homes were built that reminds me of a scene from Jimmy Stewart’s Christmas movie, “Its A Wonderful Life.” There, George Bailey helped families own a nice small home who would not be able to afford such a purchase otherwise.

Cobb’s mother and sister both owned a home and live there for a while at different times. Their mother Amanda Cobb lived at 1944 Grove St. Sarasota, Florida and sister, Florence Leslie Cobb, lived one block down on the same street.

Paul Cobb was born in Dahlonega when his father was attending school at the North Georgia Agriculture College. He attended the University School for Boys and then later went to Georgia Tech for one year.

Early in 1917, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and was trained at Paris Island, South Carolina. He was sent to France where he fought in World War I.

When John Paul Cobb made out his Last Will and Testament in August 1927, he named his brother, Ty Cobb, as Executor of his estate.

Paul Cobb suffered a stroke in 1952 and was confined him to Wilhelm’s Nursing Home until he died on October 27, 1964. He left behind only one child, Paul, Jr.

I truly believe that his father would have been proud of him and I am certain that he was always looking down on both of his boys with great satisfaction.

Like father – like son!