Granville Wilbur Hamner was my great grandfather. I volunteered to write this article so I could learn more not only about him as a player but as a person as well. The first thing I learned was that he hated the nickname “Granny”. When it came to nicknames his preference was the name his family referred to him by, “Ham”. Out of respect for my readers I’ll stick with Granny.
Hamner was a quiet kid from the streets of Richmond, Virginia. He attended Benedictine high school and loved playing sports both inside and outside of school.