Bill Fanning

News Obituary Article

CONYERS: Bill Fanning, Yankees fan, family man

By GEORGE CHIDI

William Fanning never really stopped being a Yankee or, at least, rooting for the baseball team --- and against the Atlanta Braves.

The one-time Army baseball player was a fan of any team playing the Braves, said his daughter Susanne Fanning, 43, of Covington.

Mr. Fanning was born and raised in the Bronx borough of New York. Although he lived in the South for about half his life, he never lost his New York accent or love of the Yankees, she said.

Seven of his eight children also were born in the Bronx, but they became Braves fans after moving to Atlanta in the '70s. Not he. On principle, he rooted for the away team. "I think he kept doing it to make the game interesting," his daughter said.

William E. Fanning Sr., the grandfather of movie actress Dakota Fanning, died of lung cancer Wednesday at 72.

Born Jan. 15, 1934, Mr. Fanning was a card-playing, tavern-going city kid who "grew up playing stick ball in the street and throwing dice in the alley," Susanne Fanning said.

He graduated from St. Anne's High School, and graduated from stick ball to baseball along the way. The 6-foot-2 athlete's skill as a shortstop caught the eye of talent scouts and college recruiters.

Baseball provided Mr. Fanning with opportunities for athletic scholarships to St. John's University and Niagara University, but he enlisted in the Army, Ms. Fanning said. His decision upset his mother.

"But he wasn't a schoolboy. He was a jock," Ms. Fanning said.

Mr. Fanning served in Germany from 1953 to 1955. His military training as a Morse code operator quickly gave way to baseball, though.

Most of his tour was spent playing on the Army's baseball team and traveling Europe, his daughter said.

He met his future wife, Katharina, in Germany. After leaving the service, he returned for her. They married in Germany and stayed there until their first daughter, Gail, was 6 months old.

Baseball recruiters were waiting when he came home. He was offered tryouts with the New York Giants, the Baltimore Orioles and his beloved Yankees, Ms. Fanning said.

But he had an infant daughter and a wife who barely spoke English. Rather than strand them alone in New York, he rejected life as an itinerant baseball player. He took a desk job, first with IBM Corp., then with International Paper Co. The couple had seven more children.

Mr. Fanning moved his family to the Atlanta area in 1974, settling in Conyers.

His friends say the decision represented his typical devotion to family.

"Bill was a hardworking man all his life," said Michael Wilson, 64, a retired dry cleaner from Covington and his friend. "With eight children, you have to be."

Baseball remained part of his life and the lives of the people he was around, though.

"I am the daughter who knows the infield fly rule," Ms. Fanning said.

He made his daughters stand at the plate while he taught his sons how to pitch, she said. "If you had a relationship with my father, it was about sports."

One son, Steven Fanning of Los Angeles, played professional baseball in the St. Louis Cardinals organization for seven years.

But Bill Fanning never boasted about the accomplishments of his children or grandchildren.

"He never bragged about it; he never said he had a granddaughter who was a movie star," said Father Anthony Delisi, a Trappist monk at Our Lady of the Holy Spirit Monastery in Conyers.

Dakota Fanning was not available for comment.

After Mr. Fanning's wife passed away in 1997, he began attending daily Mass at the monastery.

He spent much of his last years volunteering at the monastery's food pantry and driving monks to and from doctor's appointments.

And talking about baseball.

"When you find a cloistered monk who's interested in baseball, that's really something," said his friend Mr. Wilson.

Other survivors include daughters Gail Fanning of Covington; Carolyn Dees of St. Augustine, Fla.; Laura Reid of Monroe; and Linda Calloway of Conyers; and sons Michael Fanning of Covington and Bill Fanning of Conyers; and 13 other grandchildren.

© 2006 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution