Nine Rushton's and a Diamond: Hunter’s Family Team of 1940

The Rushton Baseball Legacy — Hunter’s Family Nine, 85 Years Ago

Eighty-five years ago, the dusty ballfields of Hunter echoed with the cheers of neighbors watching a local legend take shape — the Rushton family baseball team. In the late 1930s and early 1940s, nine Rushton brothers and cousins made up the backbone of Hunter’s team in the Salt Lake Independent Baseball Association and the Salt Lake County Farm Bureau League.

On any given Saturday, you could spot Owen, Sylvester, Welby, Lawrence, Warren, Lewis, Parley, Chris, and Art Rushton suiting up side by side, ready to cover every base and every position. It was said in Hunter that if you hit a grounder up the middle, odds were a Rushton would scoop it up. If you knocked one into left field, you’d likely find another Rushton waiting underneath it. Their teamwork wasn’t just talent — it was family instinct.

Though the roster welcomed a few good friends — names like Davis, Rolfe, Bateman, Rasmussen, Williams, and Manager Claude Coon — the Rushtons outnumbered everyone. Neighbors joked that Hunter’s diamond was less a ballfield and more a family gathering place with gloves and bats.

While they played for the fun of the game and local bragging rights, the Rushton boys built a legacy of sportsmanship, grit, and family pride. Today, their story lives on as a reminder of a time when a whole community could rally behind nine brothers who turned a simple game of baseball into a piece of Hunter’s living history.