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(AP Photo/Mary Ann Chastain)

In this file photo, former NFL coach Sam Wyche, center, meets with voters during the June primaries at a homeowners meeting in Pickens, S.C. Wyche is a Republican candidate for Pickens County Council District 3.

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Photo courtesy The Pickens Sentinel

Pickens County Council District 3 candidate Wes Burbage is pictured at the South Carolina Democratic Primary Convention earlier this year.

PICKENS — A slew of dog barks was heard from the end of a phone line, as a DHL delivery driver pulled up at the home of a local county council candidate.

In the middle of a recent interview, Pickens County Council District 3 Republican contender Sam Wyche received the fruits of his labor to help renovate a baseball field next to Griffin Ebenezer Baptist Church. The package contained a grant award of more than $61,000 from Major League Baseball to help fund the project. The grant was part of about $119,000 raised thus far for the renovation.

This, Wyche contended, validates his campaign against his Democratic rival Wes Burbage.

"That's good news and good news for Pickens and good news for me, honestly right now, because it demonstrates what I'm able to do for Pickens," Wyche said.

Wyche, who today makes a living as a motivational speaker and has lived in Pickens for about 10 years, is best known as a player and coach in the National Football League and touts his ability to call influential friends to help drum up local grant money.

Burbage, on the other hand, distanced himself from Wyche as a common man who understands the concerns of Pickens residents.

"I want to say this: Sam has probably made a lot of money, and I like Sam, but my point of view is different than his," Burbage said. "I understand about working people and what it means to lose a job and have bills. I'm just a working person, and I understand the working people."

Burbage, who is in business at Crestmore Auto Sales in Greenville and at an automobile body shop in Pickens, described himself as a grass roots campaigner, and said his experience in business would make him an able voice on County Council.

"I try to talk to people," he said. "That's what I do. I'm just a working man that owns a little business, and I just try to talk to people, and I got issues and things I want to talk about and things I want to see done for the county."

First on his list: ensure water lines are run to the Pumpkintown and Holly Springs communities. He said this was important because most residents in those areas operate on well water and need public water for increased fire safety.

Burbage also said he would like to see a portion of S.C. Highway 183 from Pickens to Greenville widened. "That is one of the deadliest highways in Pickens County, and two, it will bring business back in Pickens."

On this point, Burbage and Wyche concurred. Wyche said after his Super Bowl appearance as a player for the Washington Redskins, he used his football earnings as "seed money" to start Sam Wyche Sports World, which he said at one time included 13 stores in South Carolina and North Carolina.

"That's another thing I think I bring here: a marketing mind, which I think

is what Pickens needs right now," Wyche said. "We need to market this part of the world and make it a tourist stop and enjoy those tourist dollars."

Though he noted that Pickens was too far off Interstate 85 to be an immediate draw, he said Highway 183 should be widened for easier access to Greenville. He said the town needs to be promoted as a desirable place to live, and that means bolstering the quality of schools and roads, while keeping taxes low. "We need a tax base that is not scaring people away from Pickens but drawing people to Pickens."

As both are first-time candidates who appear successful in their respective trades, one may wonder what motivated each to run for office.

Wyche, who openly admitted he does not enjoy the often murky waters of campaigning, said he was looking forward to public service if elected. "Honestly, I had a lot of people come and knock on my door and see if you can unseat Ben Trotter, (Republican incumbent who lost during the primary)."... Now, it's page two."

Burbage, who described himself as a Christian, a taxpayer and a businessman, in that order, said his decision to run was motivated by the economic downturn. "I worked in textiles most of my life and when (a local) plant shut down ... I saw we weren't getting any business to amount (to anything), it made me want to help people."

He also said he ran on his own volition, and turning a pun, said he didn't have anyone "coach" him into running.

"I am going up against the biggest name right now in the state, and I just try to get out and visit as much as I can."