Don Owen: From Newport baseball star to community icon, Jim Cutter credits success to mom
(This column was originally published on Aug. 27, 2018) ----- At first glance, I thought it was a mistake. Could a high school baseball player have really driven in 11 runs during a single game? Not just 11 RBI, but every run during an 11-0 victory? That’s what the Newport High School Hall of Fame biography says for 2014 charter inductee Jim Cutter, who was the preeminent hitter of 9 th Region baseball in the 1970s. Cutter was a mixture of Mike Trout, Superman, James Bond and Bo Jackson as a do-everything athlete for the Wildcats, earning 11 varsity letters. But all 11 of Newport’s RBI in a single baseball game? Turns out, it’s completely factual. Cutter hit a grand slam, three-run homer, two-run homer and two-run double as Newport — er, make that Jim Cutter — clobbered Campbell County by an 11-0 score in 1978. There are eyewitnesses around to vouch for the feat, too. “I was an assistant coach at the time and was there to see it,” said Grady Brown, who has been associated with the