Life and Career
Willard Hershberger was born in Lemon Cove, California. His family moved to Fullerton, California when his father, Claude, got a job working in the city's oil fields. Hershberger attended Fullerton Union High School, where he distinguished himself on both the baseball and football teams. The yearbook called Hershberger "the boy with the golden toe", referring to his achievements as a placekicker and "the greatest little catcher to ever put on the Fullerton uniform." The 1926 baseball team won the California Interscholastic Federation championship. In 2003, he was named to the school's All-Time FUHS baseball team
On November 21, 1928, Claude Hershberger, who was depressed over financial problems, fatally shot himself with a shotgun in the family home's bathroom. Willard, then aged eighteen, discovered the body.
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