Area 1 Finals...

Brad never was the head baseball coach at S. Wayne but he was involved with it. He is transferring to Grantham, so I don't know what his coaching plans are.

Brad played for Post 11, and it was a dream of his to coach the team. Once you get on a Legion team, where you came from shouldn't make a difference. Fortunately, in our case, that's the way it is.

 

Johnston Co. Post 132 began its decline due to some county residents not feeling their community was being represented appropriately. As the county grew, more quality players obviously developed. From what I have heard, some folks in Benson felt like their kids did not get a fair shot at making the Legion team. Don't recall what year it was, but after certain kids got cut from Post 132, some Benson folks decided to start their own team. Not long after, Clayton followed suit and gave birth to their own Legion team. Seems like Clayton was unaffiliated for a bit, but now Post 71 is having it's best season in awhile. Of course, they have kids from all over playing with them and that helps. E.Wake, SE Raleigh, Princeton, SSS and Clayton all have reps on the team. Colleges such as Campbell, NCCU and Methodist are represented as well. Benson Post 109 on the other hand has seen a sharp decline in their program after the kids of the "FOUNDERS" of their team moved on and aged out. Post 109 has had a hard time finding enough players the last few summers. Heck, a couple of years ago I think there were players from Wilson or Wayne Co. playing on Post 109's squad. Back to Post 132, it remained in existance up until a few years ago, mainly using players from SSS, Princeton and North Johnston. They, too, began to have difficulty fielding a team, much less a competitive one. Once the HS league gave birth, Post 132 gave up the fight. It's really sad to hear about Legion Field being used as a soccer field nowadays. I played on that field many years ago when Johnston Co. Post 132 was THE team to be on if you were in High School. It was an honor to represent the entire county against other quality baseball teams. Those dang slushies after BP and games were not too bad either.
I do have a solution to Johnston County's Senior Legion problems though. There is enough talent to field a dang good squad and still let those coaches that are in the HS league develop their teams. I suggest the best of the best in Johnston County play Sr. Legion ball (novel concept, i know). The counties American Legion posts could unite and be more than capable of providing enough financial support to run a quality program. Tryouts would be held and only the BEST players would be kept. Those that don't make the cut would then be able to play for their HS coaches, whether that was in the HS league or JR. Legion. After all, the 'development' piece i am talking about needs those kids that are not the "BEST" right now. As a HS coach, I would prefer to work with players 4-15 during the summer. My top 3 players are going to be fine regardless of where they play. Representing an entire county would be an honor tto those that are more advanced right now. Home games would be held on a rotating basis at the counties 6 high schools. That way, each kid would be able to play a 'home' game and community members from the ENTIRE county would have an opportunity to go watch quality baseball close by. The coaching staff could rotate yearly in the same fashion that the State Games does. Say Clayton's HC become JoCo's 1st coach, WJ's HC and SJ's HC become assistants. The next year, WJ's HC moves up, SJ's HC becomes 2nd and SSS's HC is in the hole. That way, all schools would have the opportunity to be represented on the coaching level too. It would give coaches in the county a chance to coach other kids that they read about and coach against. If the High School HC's don't want to participate, then one of their assistant's would assume their spot in the rotation. I would guess the HC's in Johnston County would serve their county and the baseball players of the county appropriately. Of course, the 5000 rule needs to be wiped off of the planet. That would be a good start too.

 

I have been through four Legion coaches. One coached Charles B. Aycock, and two others coached at Southern Wayne. George Whitfield coached a few years after he retired.

I never any evidence that the coaches were looking out for "their" players when it came to playing time. Everyone wanted to win, and you didn't help yourself by screwing players from other schools.

We do have a bit of a problem with some people from CBA thinking their players are not getting their fair share of playing time. In fact, two of them decided to go the travel route. In both cases, Daddy was the impetus. One father thinks the coach "hates" his son. Please.

Wayne County played Benson for a while. Then the Benson coach called off a game at our place this year, costing us a gate. They are off the schedule. I noticed a marked decline in their program of late.

The best players should be playing at the highest level. Let the others play in the HS league.

 

be nice

Trying not to sound negative on this post but reporting some facts.

The Clayton Legion Program was started by Jim Brown with the support of the past Clayton HS baseball coach. Previous year to this, the Clayton HS coach offered to assist the SSS coach who coached the Smithfield Legion team. The Clayton HS coach's son sat alongside another prominent Clayton coach's son most of the season watching games. Both were talented players. Suddenly the next season, there was a Legion program for both those kids to play at in Clayton. After a few years, Mr Brown became independent because there was some confusion over who handles the money for the program. Mr Brown was honorably forced out and a couple of dads took the program over and got back in with the legion post. The new HS coach at Clayton had a son who played a couple of years in Jr Legion program but he did not get very much playing time. Along with the fact that the team was sparsely filled with Clayton players and many of those didnt "start", the coach took back his field (sorry no deed on this one) and began the summer HS league at Clayton.

As for the Benson Post, I think you are right on how and why it got going. I just remember Post 109s first year they had a senior that was blackballed from Clayton for playing football at another school. He was an amazing player and hit many towering shots and I think he set a conference HR record. I think his name was Ricky Hammonds (spelling?). I wonder what happened with his baseball career. The Benson coaches seem pretty baseball savvy, but they still have an open tryout which noone seems to do anymore in Legion Baseball. Also their AO doesnt research his recruiting population from the schools that he draws from, so new players from different schools get dropped for lack of research. They could probably get back on track by performing some recruiting like the rest of their conference does and get their numbers up. Tryouts are by word of mouth and a maybe last minute post in the Smithfield paper that not everyone reads. Not showing up might have been because they carry a very small roster and if something comes up, they wont have enough to play.

 

Why does a high school coach think that public property belongs to him? It reminds me of the state employee deciding the flag wasn't going to be lowered to half mast for Senator Helms at "his" lab.

Maybe some of these posts need outsiders to coach the teams.

 

Keeper of the Gate

Lets just say they are the landlords and have say in who can play there. I have written quite a few proposals for different leagues and other programs to use school fields and submitted them to various County Boards for review and approval for exempt usage on fees. Won many and lost few, but over a period of time a HS coach will take the initiative to complain about something that the program did wrong and get them kicked off. Alot of HS coaches maintain the fields with their own sweat, so they dont want anyone else messing up the fields then they get into the KEEP OUT mode.
I remember going to a certain county and getting an approval to use an abandoned school field. We spent 5 months getting it into shape and replacing all the lights and dugouts and yada yada. Once up and running everyone in that community saw the "old ballfield" back in use and started noseying in. 2 years later, every league and program within 30 miles wanted usage of the "public field". The county got distressed because all the complainers and they took it back. It now is an old abandoned field again.

 

Both sides can win if there is a working relationship between the HS coach and the legion coach. I have seen legion programs who pay fees, and I have also seen a lot of improvements made to some fields simply because the school allowed an outside organization such as AAU or the local legion team use their field.

One of the best local HS coaches in our area has told me more than once that he credits AAU tournaments for providing many field improvements to his HS field, because otherwise he couldn't have gotten the funds to do certain things that were done. In our specific case, our legion team pays the HS a field usage fee, and we have also brought in a new freezor and AC unit to concession stand, and new speakers to the PA system just in the last few years.

I understand all the hours and sweat a HS coach puts into his field, but if there is a good working relationship between he and the legion program, a HS coach can see that his field is well-maintained and he can get some improvements done that he otherwise couldn't have gotten done.

 

I have dealt with four coaches at Wayne County. I will say all of them used players in accordance with how each coach thought the available talent would help the team.

They all loved winning, so it was in their interest to play the best.

As far as the fields are concerned, the Legion coaches know to restore them after the games. Our coaches/players rake the mound and batter's box and drag the infield after every game. I've seen Pitt do it, not that others don't. It's downright rude to not do it. You're a guest in someone else's house, so to speak.