Thomas "Pre" Ball

News Obituary Article

SAN ANTONIO: Thomas 'Pre' Ball, 99, Delta pilot extraordinaire

By KAY POWELL

Thomas Prioleau "Pre" Ball was a barnstorming aerobatic pilot who looked every inch the part when he went to work for Delta Air Lines in 1934.

He was the very definition of a pilot in those glamorous early days, said Whit Hawkins of Marco Island, Fla., who retired as Delta's president in 1993.

"He was small of stature and was always immaculately dressed. He wore his uniform beautifully. He had a little mustache. You could just see him with a silk scarf, leather helmet and goggles," Mr. Hawkins said.

Mr. Ball moved from Delta's station manager in Charleston, S.C., to the airline's chief pilot, to vice president of flight operations when he retired in 1971. He was so highly respected at Delta that when he retired, his colleagues presented him with a new BMW sports car, Mr. Hawkins said.

As Delta's chief pilot, he could fly pretty much whatever he wanted to whenever he wanted to, he said. Mr. Ball delivered Delta's first commercial jetliner to Georgia, a Douglas DC-8 in 1958.

Upon being inducted into the Georgia Aviation Hall of Fame in April 2005, when he was 98, Mr. Ball attended the ceremony and delivered an acceptance speech.

The memorial service for Mr. Ball, 99, formerly of College Park, is 11 a.m. today at St. Luke's Episcopal Church in San Antonio. He died Feb. 23 at his San Antonio residence, where he had moved in 1995. The body was cremated. Porter Loring Mortuary in San Antonio is in charge of arrangements.

Mr. Ball developed model safety programs for Delta and set speed records, some of which have never been broken.

In setting the transcontinental speed record --- 31 minutes and 54 seconds --- for the maiden flight of Delta's Convair 880 in 1960, all Delta was listening to his cockpit transmissions, and it was thrilling, Mr. Hawkins said.

Comparing those days to pilots today, Mr. Ball said in a 1991 interview, "I think we had a lot more fun than they do, but I think we worked a hell of a lot harder."

Survivors include two sons, Thomas Prioleau "Pre" Ball Jr. of San Antonio and Espy Daniel Ball of Tampa; six grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren.

© 2006 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution