Former Yankee fit in at the Balboa Bay Club

Deepa Bharath

Jerry Dalebout had his idiosyncrasies.

He took a yardstick and made little marks on the rod to make sure

the clothes in his closet hung exactly an inch-and-a-half apart.

Jerry also put tiny dots on his white socks so he could tell them

apart. One pair had one dot, the next had two. He went up to six dots

sometimes. He just didn’t want his socks all mixed up.

Jerry was meticulous about cleaning his car. His black Mercedes

560 SEL was the love of his life. He polished it almost everyday,

using up cans of wax and a fine selection of brushes and dusters.

Jerry collected ladders and vacuum cleaners.

He took his own towels -- always the Polo brand, clean and folded

in neat squares -- to the Balboa Bay Club, where he has been a

long-time Six O’ Clock Club member.

His friends at the club once gave him a bottle of Tide, just to

make a jab at his refusal to use the club’s towels.

But, for all his quirks, Jerry was lovable.

He had a sense of humor that was beyond outrageous. He was always

the first to welcome new members to the club, always the first one to

make friends. He kept a bunch of chains with alligator clips,

something he always wore at dinner to hold his napkin. Jerry often

handed out these chains to his friends at the club.

Jerry was a good golfer, although temperamental. He rarely

returned with all the clubs in his golf bag. Most of them still lie

in the bottom of the lake at the Santa Ana Country Club.

Jerry not only loved his sports, he knew his sports. Jerry was an

all-star baseball player out of high school. He was drafted by the

New York Yankees at 17, right out of high school and was later traded

to the Boston Red Sox. Jerry often joked about those days and told

friends he didn’t remember whether his contract was for $7,500 or

$17,500.

He was passionate about baseball as he was with everything else. A

staunch Republican, a conservative and a man with strong opinions,

Jerry stood up for what he believed in. As one of Jerry’s friends

jokingly put it: “He was often wrong, but never in doubt.”

Jerry was deeply committed to his family. He went to all of his

grandson’s football games. He never missed a single practice session.

He was even there for the spring sessions. He’d walk in with his

beach chair, unfold it on the grass, sit on it and watch the kids

play ball.

Jerry was never the overly romantic kind. He rarely brought his

wife Nanette flowers or candy. But he told her he loved her every

single day of their 55 years together. The couple enjoyed dining at

local restaurants such as the Arches, the Alley and the Ritz, all of

which they frequented.

Jerry’s presence and his infectious sense of humor will be missed

at the Balboa Bay Club where the Six O’ Clockers have memorialized

the chair he sat on.

That chair has a couple of pictures of Jerry in the bar at

Blackie’s and at the club. Also sitting on the chair now is a lighted

candle and a pair of Jerry’s shower shoes, painted gold.

* DEEPA BHARATH covers public safety and courts. She may be

reached at (949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at deepa.bharath@latimes.com.