Here are some mid-July tids and bits to throw on the barbecue while realizing Patriots training camp is about 10 days away:

Sad news broke earlier this week when it was learned that former Nashua Pride slugger Jimmy Hurst passed away at the young age of 52 from a brief illness.

Hurst was living in Alabama and Nashua Pride fans will remember he left an impact with his great personality even though he had that huge look. The guy could hit. In 97 games with the Pride in one of his two seasons, 2001, he hit 15 homers with 57 RBIs, 19 doubles, a triple, and an OPS of .824.

He went on to play for the Newark Bears, still in the Atlantic League, in 2022, and Nashua’s was Newark’s gain as he became the only Atlantic League hitter to win the Triple Crown – .341 BA, 35 homers and 100 RBIs. Yikes. He was the 2002 Atlantic League MVP and championship series MVP.

As one comment on X called him “a true difference maker and one of the most feared, impact bats anywhere he went.”

Hurst then bounced around but returned for part of the 2005 season – Nashua’s last in the Atlantic League before moving to the Can-Am League and in 86 games he hit 21 homers and drove in 70 runs. He played in 13 Major League games with the Detroit Tigers in 1997.

Rest in peace, Jimmy.

Jimmy Hurst, who passed away earlier this month, was a popular Nashua Pride player. (Courtesy photo)

Jimmy Hurst, who passed away earlier this month, was a popular Nashua Pride player. (Courtesy photo)

—– We’re dealing with heat and humidity now, but we’ve got a little hockey on the mind. It won’t be the same next winter without Joel Sanborn behind the Hollis Brookline-Derryfield bench. Sanborn ressurrected the program, moving up from an assistant’s role and guiding the Warriors to the finals in 2021, the semis in ’22, and the earlier rounds the next two seasons.

He changed the culture.

“It’s been in the back of my mind a little while,” Sanborn said recently. “Our scheduled is kind of tough, we open the rink (Conway Arena) at 5 in the morning. And sometimes we don’t get home til 11 at night game days, etc. I enjoyed my tenure, and I thank (current HB AD Brian) Bumpus and (former AD Rhon) Rupp for giving me the opportunity. I had a lot of fun.”

One of his best moments was a quarterfinal game vs. Kearsarge-Plymouth in which the Warriors gave up a late goal that forced overtime and then won it just past a minute in 2022. And that same season the Warriors handed Belmont-Gilford its first loss on Senior Night at Conway.

Sanborn says the program will need numbers, as it continues to lose players to the draw of juniors as well as other private schools such as Bishop Guertin. Sanborn admits it’s been tougher to get the Derryfield kids when the best practice time is 5 a.m.

Sanborn, a Nashua High grad, also saved the holiday tournament that is at Conway Arena as it had a couple of years when it wasn’t held , as he convinced Rhupp that the area needed a tournament. He says he and his wife will help run it in the future if needed.

You see, that’s the kind of guy Sanborn is. Good people.

—-It was great to see former Milford coach Keith Jones end his CHaD coaching tenure on top a couple of weeks ago. It’s just not going to be the same at Milford without him, that’s for sure, as he’s not only giving up coaching but leaving the school to go to Merrimack. Jones did it his way with the Spartans, that’s for sure, and he’ll be missed. But you have to know he’ll show up on a sideline again somewhere in a few years, maybe sooner – but certainly not right away.

—- With training camp right around the corner, don’t buy into all the doom and gloom predicted for the New England Patriots just yet. Will they be contenders? No. But worst team in the league? In the NFL, you never know, especially in gauging the impact of a first-year head coach. The organiztion will try to sell the enthusiasm around the energy of Jerod Mayo.

Sometimes you can’t understimate hunger. See: Red Sox. We’ll see, and next weekend we’ll give you our annual Camp Questionaire.

Tom King can be reached at tking@nashuatelegraph.com, or on X, formerly known as twitter, @Telegraph _TomK.