Bill Bunker, a Clearwater man who played a key role in the effort to bring professional baseball to Tampa Bay, died Thursday (Jan. 12, 2006). He was 68.
"He was the guy who made it all happen," said Creative Contractors president Alan Bomstein, who served on the Pinellas Sports Authority when Mr. Bunker was executive director. "He had a single focus: dedication to bringing Major League Baseball to the area."
Bomstein said Mr. Bunker made many friends in Major League Baseball as he doggedly pursued his goal.
"We followed his lead," Bomstein said. "He was a solid leader and a good guy. He gets two checks in the good guy column."
The Pinellas Sports Authority made acquiring a major league team its primary objective and hired Mr. Bunker to lead the charge as executive director in 1978. He immediately pointed out the need for a stadium, saying, "You've got to stick a shovel in the ground before you even approach baseball."
The shovel went in the ground on Nov. 22, 1986. More than 9,000 supporters carried miniature shovels that said, "I Dig the Stadium."
The Florida Suncoast Dome, now known as Tropicana Field, opened in March 1990. All the dome needed was a baseball team. When the news came in March 1995 that the Tampa Bay Devil Rays would be a reality, Mr. Bunker was jubilant.
"I think it's great," he said. "It's the culmination of a lot of years. It shows what you can do if you set a goal and a community works at it long enough."
William V. Bunker was born in 1937 in West Palm Beach. Mr. Bunker played basketball, football and baseball in high school in Madison. At Florida State University, he played some football, graduating with a bachelor of arts degree in English in 1959.
"He was probably one of the biggest Seminole boosters in the world," said Andrea Bunker, his wife of 27 years.
He was later a sports writer for the Tallahassee Democrat and the Houston Press, sports information director at Florida State University, chief of sports promotion at the Florida Department of Commerce and assistant chief of the Florida News Bureau at the Florida Department of Commerce.
In recent years, he volunteered as chairman of the Florida Committee for Employer Support of Guard and Reserve, an agency under the Department of Defense that encourages employers to support military reservists they employ.
From 1959 to 1962, he was in the U.S. Marine Corps and served in the Marine Corps Reserves from 1963 to 1985, reaching the rank of lieutenant colonel.
"He was a proud, professional sports writer, public relations, Marine," Mrs. Bunker said. "He was a very proud and loving grandfather of 10."
Along with his wife, Mr. Bunker is survived by his mother, Coleen Bunker of Tallahassee; son Jack Bunker of Arlington, Va.; stepsons Eric Caleen of Clearwater and Michael Caleen of Cary, N.C.; daughters Connie Martin of Colorado Springs, Colo., and Anne Mathews of Pleasonton, Calif.; sister Coleen Ash of Tallahassee; and 10 grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. Monday at Moss Feaster Funeral Home, 693 S Belcher Road, Clearwater.
Mr. Bunker died of cancer under the care of the Hospice of the Florida Suncoast and the family asks that donations go to that organization in lieu of flowers.