78 Photo Essay: Jim Bunch, Manager of Hibbett Sports- Jasper Mall

Words by Al Blanton | Images by Blakeney Clouse

 If you want to get a sense of Jim Bunch’s personality, look no further than the bulletin board in his office at Hibbett Sports in the Jasper Mall. You’ll find Jim posing with a cast of characters that include Dolly Parton and Snoop Dogg, as well as a picture of a black cat with Jim’s face superimposed on it. Jim’s never met Dolly or Snoop, of course, but he did get to shake Peyton Manning’s hand once at a Hibbett manager’s conference several years ago.

 Born in Jasper, Jim graduated from Walker High School in 1974. After attending Walker College and the University of Alabama, Jim landed a job as a job placement director at RETS, a technical college located in Jefferson County. For several years, he commuted back and forth between Jasper and Birmingham and helped students find a job when they graduated.

 One of his former bosses at RETS eventually lured Jim to Charlotte, North Carolina, to take a similar position with ECPI College of Technology (now ECPI University). He stayed there for 5 years but eventually decided to move back home to be closer to family. That paved the way for a position that would come to define him in this area.

 When Jim returned home, he noticed an advertisement in the Daily Mountain Eagle for a manager trainee at Hibbett Sports in the Jasper Mall. Jim, an avid sports fan all of his life, was intrigued and applied for the position. After getting hired, the manager soon left and Jim was thrown into the fire, being trained by an assistant manager who quickly showed him the ropes.

 Since then, Jim Bunch has become the face of Hibbett Sports in the mall. Jim says the most satisfying part of the job is the customer interaction and helping young sports enthusiasts with their baseball, football, soccer, or basketball needs. “If you’ve been here as long as I have, you’ve seen kids grow up from babies and now they are going through college,” Jim says. “I know most people on a first-name basis, but if I don’t know their name, I know their face.”

 Jim says he wants to make everyone who walks into the store feel comfortable. He wants to be known as someone who cares and is dependable.

 In his spare time, he loves to spend time with his two daughters, Erica and Alyssa, their husbands, and his 3 grandchildren. His bucket list items are attending a national championship game in which Alabama is playing, and watching a game at Fenway Park in Boston.

 Hopefully one day, he’ll get there. After a long working life, Jim surely deserves it. 78