University of North Carolina Athletics
Carolina People: James Spurling
July 31, 2000 | General
July 31, 2000
Sunday night, July 30th, at a steakhouse way out in the country, summer ended and football season began for the Carolina coaching staff.
The green flag drops every year about this time when the incomparable James Spurling totes a whole bus full of coaches, wives, support personnel and special guests up to Roxboro for steak and all the trimmings.
Officially, James is the owner and proprietor of Eastgate BP in Chapel Hill, but to call James Spurling a filling station owner would be like calling Tiger Woods "a scratch golfer." It just wouldn't do the man proper justice.
Picture a tanned, slimmed down, clean shaven, stylishly dressed Rafe Hollister from The Andy Griffith Show and you are in the ballpark on what James looks like, but it is really his personality that sets him apart.
As quick-witted as a stand up comic, Spurling's down home accent gives his keen business acumen and tireless work ethic just the camaflouge he wants. He's not a name dropper at all, but his rolodex is thick with the addresses and home phone numbers of celebrities that have become fond of him over the years. And brother, does James love Carolina.
His attentiveness to the car problems of coaches wives enables the coaches themselves to travel and be out of town with greater peace of mind. His support of UNC Athletics is relentlessly upbeat and positive no matter what the win/loss record shows. And his loyalty to his customers and honest repair work is threatening to give him more business than one shop can handle.
"On a cold winter morning my car wouldn't start," a pal of mine, Wes Pope, told me about ten years ago, "so I called Eastgate BP. A few minutes later this guy named James Spurling drove up in a great big wrecker and gave me a jump start. `How much do I owe you,' I said. James said `Not a thing, just come see me.' And then, vroooommmmm, he was gone."
That's kind of the way James does business.
So even if you aren't a Carolina fan and don't need any gas, oil, an inspection sticker or air in your tires, stop by Eastgate BP the next time your in town and shake the hand of a difference-maker.
James won't try to sell you any car stuff you don't need, but be careful. By the time you leave, he might have you pulling for the Heels.
