When a neighbor asked Rod Hall to build a dock, he built the dock. When a few more neighbors asked, he built theirs too. Then the developer of Tega Cay suggested he build a marina, and in 1976 Rod Hall did exactly that, pouring his family’s savings and every spare hour into what would become the Tega Cay Marina. He was a Georgia Tech electrical engineer who designed control systems for nuclear power plants by day and built boats in his garage on weekends. By the time he retired, he and his wife Fran had grown a single marina slip into a six-location marine dealership that made them the largest Sea Ray dealer in the Carolinas. He passed away at home on the lake on August 3, 2023. He was 86.
A Builder From the Very Beginning
James Rodney “Rod” Hall was born December 5, 1936, in Rock Hill, SC, to James Luther and Lydia Loyce Holland Hall. He grew up in a rural farming community and from the earliest age was drawn to making things. Erector sets, Lionel trains, line-controlled model airplanes he assembled himself. He built his first boat at age 8. By the time he was in his teens he was spending summers on Lake Wylie.
Rod was active in the Boy Scouts of America and achieved both Eagle Scout and the Order of the Arrow, scouting’s honor camping society. After Winthrop Training School, he enrolled at Georgia Tech and earned a degree in electrical engineering, also serving in the ROTC. When he was a senior in high school, a good friend named Tommy Williams had invited him to meet Frances Smith. After their very first date, Rod told people he was going to marry her one day. He would spend the next four years making weekend drives from Atlanta to Rock Hill to make sure of it.
Rodney and Frances Hall were married in March 1960 at Ebenezer Church in Rock Hill. Upon graduation, Rod fulfilled his ROTC commitment by serving in the U.S. Army from 1961 to 1964, stationed in Anniston, Alabama, where he reached the rank of Captain. Even in the Army his engineering mind stayed busy. He designed and built an automatic “de-linking” machine that separated surplus machine gun belt tracer rounds from training rounds, eliminating hours of manual labor. Those machines went on to be used for many years.
Duke Power, Nuclear Plants, and Boats in the Garage
After his honorable discharge, Rod and Fran with their two young sons, Rick and Jeff, moved to Charlotte. A brief stint with the Douglas Aircraft Company led him to Duke Power Company, where he would spend the next phase of his career designing and integrating electrical control systems for the utility’s newly constructed power plants, including several nuclear facilities in the region.
The work was demanding and technical, but it never crowded out the builder in him. During those Charlotte years Rod built a dozen wooden boats in his garage, a mix of powerboats and sailboats, water skied, raced the sailboats he had constructed himself, built a cabin on Lake Norman with Fran, and eventually made the move that would change everything: Tega Cay on Lake Wylie.
One of the home-built powerboats from that era became something of a local legend on the water. It was a 14-foot plywood runabout fitted with a Ford Falcon engine Rod had pulled from a junk yard. His neighbor Lou Sitton Wollenhaupt, the daughter of longtime Tega Cay resident John Sitton, recalled it simply: Rod “put a Ford Falcon engine in a 14′ boat.” The result, the obituary notes, was “one of the fastest boats on the lake.” He was also a very competitive sailor, winning numerous local and regional regattas with Fran as his crew.
Building the Tega Cay Marina, One Neighbor at a Time
When Rod and Fran moved to Tega Cay, the first thing Rod did was build the dock in front of their new home. Then a neighbor asked if he would build one for them. He did. Then another neighbor asked, and another. A dock-building side business took shape alongside his full-time commitment to Duke Power.
Then came the conversation that changed his life. During a casual exchange with the developer of Tega Cay, someone suggested that Rod should build a marina for the growing community. He took the idea seriously. In 1976, Rod Hall broke ground on what would become the Tega Cay Marina.
The commitment was total. Rod and Fran risked everything they had, investing their savings in the project. With a couple of hired hands, his two sons, and a rotation of family members, Rod built the marina himself. Fran managed it. Rick and Jeff worked there after school and through the summers. All of it happened while Rod was still keeping his full-time obligations at Duke Power, a schedule that regularly meant fourteen-hour days, seven days a week.
“Rod and Fran risked everything they had and invested in the marina and, with the help of a couple of hired hands, his two sons and many family members, he built the marina.”
Hall family obituary, M.L. Ford & Sons Funeral Home, August 2023
Lou Sitton Wollenhaupt, who grew up down the cove from the Halls, remembered Rod as “a fascinating, intelligent guy.” Her description of him building the marina is direct: he “literally built the Tega Cay Marina in 1976.”
Pier 49, Dry Stack Storage, and Six Dealerships
The Tega Cay Marina was not Rod’s last move. Several years after opening it, he announced that he intended to buy Pier 49 Marina, the facility adjacent to the Buster Boyd Bridge on Lake Wylie. Fran was against it. Rod was not the type to back down from a challenge. He bought it, renamed it Lake Wylie Marina, and immediately began improvements.
His next idea was ahead of its time for an inland lake. He designed and built a dry-stack boat storage facility on the property, a concept that was essentially new to lakes in the region at that point. The innovation gave boaters a way to store their vessels out of the water, protected and accessible, without needing a wet slip. New and used boat sales came next, with Rod landing dealership rights for Chris Craft and several other major brands.
By the early 1980s, Rod had secured the rights to represent Sea Ray Boats, the leading brand in the recreational marine industry. Rod took early retirement from Duke Power to give the business his full attention. The dealership grew steadily through the 1980s and 1990s, expanding to six locations across Lake Wylie, Lake Norman, Charleston, Columbia, Greenville, and Savannah. His stated goal had always been clear.
“A very fine boat dealership and marina, and to be committed to fair and honest treatment of everyone touched in the process.”
Rod Hall, as quoted in the Hall family obituary, August 2023
The family’s work was recognized at the national level. In 1979, the Halls were named Boating Family of the Year at the New York Boat Show. And in 2004, at the annual Sea Ray dealer meeting, Rod was surprised with the first-ever C.N. Ray-Sea Ray Boats Lifetime Achievement Award, presented in front of an audience of major marine industry leaders. He accepted it with what those who knew him would recognize as characteristic humility.
Handed to Rick and Jeff, and a New Chapter in Wood
In 2004, after twenty-seven years of building and running the business alongside Fran, Rod sold Hall Marine to his sons Rick and Jeff, who had worked in the business since its earliest days. They continued to grow it as the second generation for another fourteen years. The Lake Wylie location today operates as MarineMax Hall Marine Lake Wylie.
Rod’s retirement opened up time he had not had since the 1970s. He built a woodshop and rediscovered a passion that had never really left. His favorite material was walnut. The homes of his sons feature several of his pieces. He built and donated work to churches, friends, family, and community organizations, but never sold a single item.
“If it can be made of wood, I hope I can build it.” He also said: “If you do it for money, it’s work. If you do it because you want to, it’s pleasure.”
Rod Hall, as quoted in the Hall family obituary, August 2023
He also enjoyed golf, bicycling the trails around the region, traveling in a motor home with Fran, and gardening. The family took boating trips to the Bahamas in a single-engine 25-foot boat, navigating with only a paper chart and compass. They chartered sailboats in the British Virgin Islands. Through all of it, Rod remained grounded in his faith and in his family.
Margaret Frances “Fran” Hall, his wife of 64 years, remained by his side through his later years of declining health. He is survived by Fran; sons James Richard Hall (Cindy) and Jeffrey Lee Hall (Laura), both of Charleston; sister Joyce Hall of New York; grandchildren Maddison, Brandon, Carson, and Lauren Hall; and great-grandchildren Rodney and Olivia Hall.
James Rodney “Rod” Hall passed away peacefully at his home by the lake on August 3, 2023. He was 86. His family laid him to rest at Ebenezer Church in Rock Hill, the same church where he married Frances 63 years before. The marina he built by hand in 1976 is still there on the water in Tega Cay.
Note: Hall Marine Group on Lake Wylie was acquired by MarineMax in January 2017 and rebranded as MarineMax Hall Marine Lake Wylie
Sources: James Rodney “Rod” Hall obituary, M.L. Ford & Sons Funeral Home, August 2023; personal note from Lou Sitton Wollenhaupt (daughter of Tega Cay resident John Sitton), September 2026.
TAGS: Rod Hall, Hall Marine, Tega Cay Marina, Lake Wylie Marina, Sea Ray, Pier 49, Lake Wylie, Tega Cay history, boating, marina history, Buster Boyd Bridge
Did you know Rod Hall or remember the Tega Cay Marina in its early days? We’d love to hear your stories. Share a memory in the Tega Cay History Facebook Group or reach out through our Contact page.
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