A Conversation with Mr. Don Hughes
MB: We’ll go ahead and start from the beginning. Where were you born and raised and what did your folks do for a living?
DH: Okay. Well, I was actually born in Orangeburg, South Carolina. We moved to North Carolina when I was two-years=old and we moved to a little place called Tar Heel, North Carolina down in Bladen County. My parents- Mom was a stay-at-home mom, Dad was a schoolteacher and coach, taught Math and Social Studies. Then later on, Mom became a teacher assistant and did a distance learning program at the high school.
MB: How would you describe that area during your early years growing up? What was that town like?
DH: It’s very rural, just a crossroads. I mean, I think there were a couple of gas stations and that was about it. Pretty heavy farming. Pretty much everybody farmed. There were some businesses. Dupont- Fayetteville was right up the road, so there was Dupont and some other businesses.
MB: So you mentioned your dad was a coach. Was he a big influence when it comes to sports in your life growing up?
DH: Yeah. Again, Tar Heel High School, of course, is no longer in existence. It was a very small school, back then a 1A school. There were 310 students in the entire school, 79 in my graduating class. Yes my dad was a teacher and coach. Back in those days, he started there in 1957, he coached football, baseball, boys and girls basketball. So, you know, he did it all. He was really the only coach because that was all the sports they had at that point in time. But yeah, he was a huge influence. He was also my high school math teacher for four years- that was fun. (laughs)
MB: I bet that was interesting.
DH: Yeah, it was. But yeah, I just learned a lot of good things from him. A lot of- not so much the X’s and O’s but just, you know, good habits, love of sports and just always do your best in everything you do,
MB: And so what sports did you play growing up? Was it a real versatile thing?
DH: Yeah, again, being such a small school, there weren't many people to make up the teams. I played football, basketball, and baseball throughout high school.
MB: Did you favor one sport over another then?
DH: I really liked football. Well, I mean I really liked them all, but probably football and baseball were my two favorite, because I guess I was probably a little more successful at those two than the other.
MB: And so what was your experience like as a student-athlete in high school? Would you consider yourself a good student then? I know you said your dad was your math teacher, describe what that experience was like in that four year period.
DH: Of course, my dad had always felt the importance of education. So you know, he always stressed to me and my two sisters that were younger than I am, the importance of getting a good education and doing well. I was a good student- Beta Club, honor society. Pretty much a straight-A student and was pretty successful in my sporting career.
MB: You mentioned football and baseball being your main sports. What positions did you play in football and baseball?
DH: In football, of course, you know at that point in time, and again with the small school, everybody played both ways, as they say. I was a running back on offense and a linebacker on defense. In baseball I played centerfield.
MB: Where did you attend college after your high school days?
DH: I went to East Carolina.
MB: Did you go on to continue playing sports at that next level in college?
DH: Yeah, I did. I received an invitation to a walk-on tryout at East Carolina. I had been there my previous two years at a football camp my junior and senior year and really kind of fell in love with the coaching staff there. So, I went there and was selected to be a practice dummy as I called it. I did a lot of practicing and a little bit of playing.
MB: A good experience nonetheless.
DH: Yes. Oh, Very much.
MB: And your first year at ECU was when?
DH: That was in ‘72. I was there ‘72 through ‘76 and then did graduate school in ‘77.
MB: What was the football team like when you were at East Carolina? Were they seeing a lot of success then?
DH: Yeah, that was kind of in a hay day, my first two years- at that time they were in the Southern Conference and we won the conference championship both of those years. My junior year we had a coaching change. Coach Randle had left and then Coach Dye, Pat Dye, who came from Alabama, and then later on after East Carolina, he went to Auburn and actually won a national championship while he was there. Yeah, we had good success.
MB: When would you say your interest in coaching began? Was it in your early years, looking at your father? Or was it later on in college?
DH: It’s a really interesting question. When I was going into my senior year, thinking about college, and you know, putting in the application and everything, the last thing I wanted to do was teach and coach. Because I had seen, you know, not that it’s not a rewarding experience, but I just saw how much stress and how much time- my dad was, of course, coaching all the sports, and he was gone pretty much all the time. Of course, I was usually the tag along when I was younger and wasn’t in high school, I was always the ball boy for his teams. But then my senior year in high school we had a young gentleman who came to teach, not PE, but physical education. He taught it the way it really should be. It was not so much just kind of, as they say, roll out the balls. In those classes we had to do scale models, if you wanted to do a football field, track, soccer, whatever it was. We did those and put those on display in the gym. He taught lifetime sports, like tennis and golf and things like that.
MB: That’s neat.
DH: So that really kind of peaked my interest. I said “Well, you know, that might be a lot of fun doing that.”
MB: What year did you return to West Craven? And what was that hiring process like?
DH: Okay, um-
MB: I was told a good story from Coach Jones, involving you and Coach Jordan as well.
DH: Well let’s see if it all goes together. I had finished my masters degree, or was finishing up my master’s degree, and was working at the Woodmen Camp over in Fort Barnell as a counselor and Si Seymour contacted me one day and in the discussion he said, “Have you got a job yet?” and I said “Well, not yet, I’m down to the final two for a job down at North Brunswick High School,” which is down around Wilmington, “and I’m just waiting to hear back.” He said, “Well, if things don’t work out there, West Craven is going to have a position, but the principal doesn’t know it yet. The baseball coach, he and the home ec teacher had left and went down the South Carolina together.” So I got up with Mr. Strickland, the principal of West Craven at that time, contacted him, went down for an interview, spoke with him. I guess he was somewhat interested, and referred me to meet with Richard Peeler, who was the head football coach and athletic director at that time, to go meet with him. So I met with Richard, I didn’t know I was like a year behind, by the time I got to East Carolina, Richard had just graduated, and he had played there. And so everything went well there, went down to meet with Mr. Mayo and he hired me at that time.
Probably the story Coach Jones was talking about, after my first year, that’s when West Craven Middle School was opening up. They were moving people around, and I guess the superintendent wasn’t satisfied with the success of the football team, so he was relieving the head football coach. He was making all kinds of moves. I got a call to go to the central office and I said, “Well, I guess I’m getting relieved too,” because all the other coaches had left, some of them were being changed to other positions. They didn’t want to do it, and so they went to other schools. So I go down and there’s Clay Jordan sitting there in the lobby. I had seen Clay one time in my life at that time and he said, “Well, are you taking the job?” I said, “What are you talking about?” He said, “The guy that was going to be the head coach and new athletic director and all that stuff, he resigned the position before he ever started.” And he said, “Lorenzo-” who I didn’t know at that time, “he’s back with the superintendent now.” And so they came out and the superintendent said, “Well, you come on back” and I went back, and he said, “Okay. We got you three guys here. Each of you can be a head coach of one sport. Which one do you want?” Well, I had been the baseball coach the previous year and I really had a good group of guys. We weren’t so talented but they were just good guys to work with and I felt for them because they said they had already had three different coaches so far in high school. So I said “Well I’ll keep baseball.” And so then the rest is history, Clay took football, Lorenzo took basketball.
MB: There you go. Yeah, that adds up.
DH: That’s how it went, yeah.
MB: And so you mention the baseball program kind of had a tough time. How would you describe the state of that baseball program when you took over in your first year?
DH: Well it’s just that. I mean, I think anything in life, in any kind of occupation, you need that consistency. It was just a revolving door, you know, I think it was one of those situations where it was just, “well, I’ll do it because nobody else will.” You know, and I like baseball. My dad coached me in baseball my junior and senior year. I really liked baseball. I kind of understood baseball probably better than I did football, with all the ins and outs, and so I just felt committed to those guys. You know, the program continued, I think, to improve, and we got some real coaches in there and the program has had a lot of success through the years.
MB: Being as young as you were, what were those player-coach relationships like? Were you able to relate to those guys more because you were close in age?
DH: Yeah. I started there at West Craven in August of ‘77 and got married to my wife, Becky, in November of ‘77, and of course then baseball season rolls around in the spring and she was a big part of it, too. And like I said, what it really was- we were fairly close in age, not much different from some of those because we had a number of seniors on the team and we’d have cookouts and get-togethers and things like that. I think any time you want to have success, you have to build some relationships. I will never forget, I had a shortstop, with long, shaggy, curly hair. He looked like Peter Frampton or somebody. And finally, he was over there one day saying, “I can’t get anybody to cut my hair.” So my wife said, “I’ll cut it for you.” So she cut his hair.
MB: How would you describe your coaching style in those early years and your team’s style of play? Did it take long to implement your own expectations to the team you inherited?
DH: Well, I mean, I’m sure it took a while but those guys- like I said, we had some really good athletes and they wanted to win. They were really receptive to anything. I’ve always been one to be real aggressive. You know, whether it was at the bat or on the base pads, wherever, trying to force the hand of your opponent. I believe in what they call "small ball”- not afraid to bunt, trying to get runners in scoring position and things of that nature. But yeah, still a lot of those guys, some of them are my best friends, even to this day I see several of them. Unfortunately, a few of them have passed away through the years. But yeah, just good guys and still see some of those parents that didn’t agree with me, because I wasn’t playing their son or playing them in the wrong position. I see them now and they’re still just good friends, so I think they saw that I was trying to do the best I could.
MB: Did it take those teams long before they found success? Did it take a few years to get the program back on track?
DH: Well I’ll say for the baseball team to be really competitive, yeah it did take a number of years. It probably wasn’t until Coach Langston, Robert Langston, called “Peanut,” got there that really kind of put West Craven Baseball on the map. You know, we had some success and we had some wins. Our almost “claim to fame”- we were playing White Oak High School, White Oak High School had just been featured in Sports Illustrated. They had won I think two consecutive state championships and they had won seventy nine games in a row. We were down there playing them and we were up 4-2 going into the last inning. We ended up losing 5-4 (laughs.)
MB: Oh, wow. Almost got them.
DH: Almost beat the undefeated team, yeah.
MB: How popular was baseball during that time for young people in this area?
DH: It was. I mean, it was pretty popular because there were the youth programs going on and they had the little league. I guess they call it “America’s game” you know and that type of thing. So I think baseball has always been pretty popular in this area. Farm Life, when they were the high school, had successful baseball programs and a lot of good athletes that went on to the professional ranks. West Craven has had several players in the pros, some right now.
MB: So during your time as head coach, what were the support levels like from people in the community? Were the stands packed at the games?
DH: No, not like that. One of the reasons I say, you know, winning brings the folks out. They want to see you be successful. But also at that point in time there were no lights. We didn’t have lights. So all the games were right after school at 4:00. So it was difficult for folks to get off of work. A little later on toward the end of my career, we were successful with the capital campaign program and got lights put out at the school.
MB: And that was a major accomplishment.
DH: That was a big one, yeah.
MB: Did you have a lot of versatile athletes on your teams? Guys that played multiple sports instead of just focusing on one, which nowadays you see more often.
DH: Yeah, probably the overwhelming majority played at least two sports. We had a lot of guys who played football, baseball, and some basketball. A lot of guys played multiple sports.
MB: And what would you say is the biggest benefit of being a multi-sport athlete? How can playing one sport help playing another completely different sport?
DH: Well, I think that multiple sports- you know, you never know what level you can reach in a sport if you don’t ever play it. I just think that it’s good being a well rounded athlete. I think a lot of the colleges really lean towards guys that play multiple sports. Seeing their agility, ability. Yeah sure I can hit a baseball, I can throw a football, and that type of thing, but you know, what other things can you do? They say don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
MB: Right. Did you coach any other sports at West Craven?
DH: Yeah, that was back in the day when you coached year long. My first year I was an assistant football coach, I was head baseball coach, and then was what they actually called a weight training coach. Then my second year I was assistant football, the wrestling coach, and baseball coach. During the course of my time at West Craven I’ve coached tennis, track, of course football, wrestling, and baseball.
MB: Just wherever you were needed.
DH: Yeah, wherever.
MB: And how did your involvement in those sports help as a baseball coach? Which was your main sport, I guess you could say.
DH: Yeah, that’s where I was head coach at. Well one thing it does, it helps you recruit a little bit. You see athletes, and like I said, I know we had some really good baseball players. Particularly one guy, Dale Dawson, who was probably by far the best tennis player in school, but he played baseball. That was when tennis was going on, so he didn’t play. So, you know, if you could figure out ways to do both, which some people can do. But I think it’s just important that, as a coach, and I know some coaches are really strict about, “Well if you’re going to play my sport, that’s all you’re going to do. We’re going to concentrate on whatever sport it is year round.” And to me, I think that’s a mistake.
MB: In what ways did the game of baseball evolve during your time as coach? Was it much different from when you played at the high school level?
DH: Oh yeah. I think the overall athletes are much more talented, much more gifted nowadays. Back then, like when I was in high school particularly, I mean, we did have some- even as rural as we were, we had some youth baseball, little league, that type of thing. There were some legion teams, but not as much involvement as there is now. So pretty much you played ball during the high school season and that’s it. See, back then there were no fall workouts, morning workouts. Whenever February 1st came around you started baseball practice. So it was just a few weeks for practice and then the season. So now there’s much more time spent in skill development and actual improvement of your game.
MB: And what would you say you evolved as a head coach during your time there? Just from start to finish.
DH: Well, I think I really learned a lot from opposing teams, opposing coaches. Particularly a couple of guys down in Carteret County; one at East Carteret, one at West Carteret. We became good friends and just being able to sit down and talk with them about “how do y’all do things?” “In this inning y’all did this play … why?” Again, being young and just learning from their experiences. But I think the longer you’re in it, the better you get if you’re willing to adapt and change. You can’t say, “Well this is the way we’re going to do it and we’re always going to do it this way.” If you keep doing it the same way you’ve always done it, you’re going to get the same thing you’ve always done.
MB: That’s right. So would you adapt based on the players you had based on their strengths?
DH: Oh yeah, you have to. Just like if you got really strong pitching, you know, you can play some guys out of position in the field, or if you can get a couple of runs, you have a chance to win. And if you don’t have good pitching, you better really produce some runs.
MB: What was your daily role at West Craven like as a head coach, but also as a Physical Education teacher?
DH: When I first started there- it’s not like it is now where students have four classes, and teachers have three classes each semester. We had seven period days. So you saw six periods a day, had lunch, and one period was a planning period. Also, that was a point in time where you didn’t have to be, as they say, highly qualified in every subject because I taught Physical Education primarily but I’ve also taught Math, General Math, Consumer Math, and also Biology and Physical science. In Physical Education you had a lot of science classes and I had done really well in math, too. They plugged me in those. One of the best classes that I think should be a required class was Consumer Math. That was the one where students learned how to write checks, balance a checkbook.
MB: Life skills.
DH: Yeah, life skills. You know, how to get a loan and about loan payments and things of that nature. I think that’s important because a lot of folks don’t understand these days.
MB: So at what point was a change in that routine appealing to you and what were the steps you had to take to make that transition to the administrative positions.
DH: Well I had been encouraged, my wife encouraged me, of course some other folks encouraged me about going into administration. So I said, “Well, you know, I’ll go back and work on what was called a six year degree, a master’s in Education, an Education Specialist Degree. I don’t know, I just felt like I could have more of an impact in administration than I could just in a classroom. So that’s when I did that.
MB: When was your final year as a coach at West Craven?
DH: Oh gracious, let’s see, the last year I coached was probably ‘83. Something like that.
MB: And what would you say was the most rewarding part of that coaching experience that you had at the high school level?
DH: Oh, the student-athletes. The relationships made during the years, I mean I still see guys now that are fifty-years old and still call me “Coach” and stuff like that. You know, just the relationships and seeing them have success and learning from the failures. That’s some of your best learning experiences when things don’t go your way, you learn. But yeah, the relationships.
MB: Did you have any other administrative roles before becoming head principal at West Craven?
DH: I became assistant principal in ‘83. I was assistant principal for twelve years, twelve and a half years, then became principal in ‘97 and I retired in ‘06.
MB: Can you describe the learning process in those twelve years as vice principal and that transition?
DH: Vice principal is kind of like a utility man. You do a little bit of everything. They used to say it was books, buses, and bad boys. That’s what you dealt with, the three B’s. But it was much more than that. I thought I really had a good mentor in Mr. Jolly, who was the principal there. I learned a lot of things and he shared a lot of things. Again, the relationships you built going to some of the leadership conferences and workshops and things of that nature, learning from other places. Backing up, I had talked to Dr. Quinn, who was the superintendent then about an administrative position in Craven County and he said there was nothing available right then, but he would give me full consideration for anything that came up. Well, about that time I was offered a position down at East Carteret. Again, through the grapevine I had made a lot of good friends and Ron Parish was the principal at East Carteret and they had an assistant principal position open and they offered the position and I really seriously considered that, but it was going to be a thing of having to leave mid year in December. My wife, with her position, it was fifty-nine miles one way from my house to the front door of the school and they said that the first year was okay, but anything after that I would have to move. Not knowing whether she would have a position down there, or not, I declined and so fortunately enough the next year things worked out for the job at West Craven.
MB: Going from leading a team to an entire school, what were the biggest challenges to that transition?
DH: Probably getting everyone- which, you know, it’s almost impossible to get everyone to see the big picture of what we were trying to accomplish. What the district was trying to accomplish through the way we were presenting the curriculums. Everybody has their own ideas- and it’s good to have other ideas to share. What I’m thinking might not be the best. You need to learn from other folks. When you have 125 people that have their own way, they want to go- just trying to bring everybody together. I think for the early years when I was there at West Craven and then through a large part of my principalship we had a very unique faculty in that we had such a camaraderie. Everybody did things together. We’d have things at school and everybody would celebrate everybody’s accomplishments and things of that nature. It was just a really fun place to work. Also it really had a real community feeling to it, because at one point in time we had 16 alumni from West Craven that were teaching on staff. So you had that commitment to the community and not just that “I teach and that’s all I do,” they had real interest in the school and its success.
MB: So you’re talking about the atmosphere of West Craven when you became principal and that family-oriented style, but in terms of the student body, how would you describe the groups of kids you would see come in and out through your years there?
DH: Well, you know, it’s just like the evolution of everything now in the last number of years you’re just seeing a different change, different culture. West Craven was a very unpopular decision when the school opened up because you had Vanceboro, Jasper, and Fort Barnwell- Those schools came together. There were bitter rivalries. The school was being built six miles from Vanceboro, but sixteen miles from the other areas and so that was a point of contention. It’s like why is there this geographic thing about “the river,” where you don’t associate with people across the river. Clay was talking about how he was a sophomore the first year West Craven opened up and he said when you went to the cafeteria it wasn’t so much that the blacks were here and the whites were there. Vanceboro sat together, Jasper sat together, and Fort Barnwell, so it was kind of that. So, you had to bring in those things but I think they really started subsiding a few years after the school opened up.
MB: What were some of the goals you wanted to accomplish as a leader? Did you go into each school year with certain ones you wanted to reach? Whether it be performance related or not.
DH: Well, yeah. You know, performance was a big part because the state set the standards to meet expectations, exceed expectations. But personal goals were just to have a good, successful, safe school year and those types of things, and to see growth. We were very fortunate during the time that I was there, we either met growth or exceeded growth every year except for the one year when we had Hurricane Floyd and were out of school for thirteen consecutive days and we had over one hundred students who were displaced from their homes, and that’s the only year we didn’t meet or achieve the standards the state set. Our teachers and students really bought into it because they wanted to be successful, they wanted the school to look good. For the most part, we did.
MB: Especially since many of them came from West Craven, there was more of that pride to represent.
DH: Right.
MB: There are many examples of wasted potential for high schoolers, whether it be in athletics or academics. What leadership methods did you use to keep students on the right path?
DH: Well I think the thing is just to be a sounding board, being willing to listen, not just always talking to them. Being able to listen and hear their concerns and the issues they have and ask them, “Okay, I hear what you’re saying. So, what can we do better?” Putting them as part of the remedy to solution. Don’t just come with the complaints. Come with the solution of how to make it better. That gives them buy in and makes them feel like they’re part of the process. It’s not just you spilling it out to them what to do all the time, now they have skin in the game, so to speak.
MB: They’re invested in it.
DH: Right.
MB: As you mentioned, both the coach and principal professions come along with major time commitments. How were you able to balance your personal and professional life with both jobs? Especially while having your own family in those years.
DH: Not very well. A couple of really good friends said, “Why would anybody want to be a high school principal?” because of the time commitment. Not only do you have a normal school day- I’ve always been the one, and I learned this from my dad, he was a real stickler about being on time, the first one there and the last one to leave, that type of thing. It kind of stuck with me. When I retired, one of the things I said at my little retirement dinner- I apologized to my wife and my children, particularly my children that time. I said “because I spent more time with other people’s children than I did with my own.” It’s true and that’s one of the prices you have to pay to do that. I was fortunate that they were students at West Craven and they did participate in sports and so I’d be at a lot of their games and that type of thing. Again, the late nights, you’re getting back from ball games. My oldest daughter, as assistant principal and athletic director, when she was little I would drag her to every away ball game, basketball, football, she would ride with me, she was my partner. My wife was home with the two babies.
MB: Have your kids described what that was like for them with you in that principal position while they were students there?
DH: When I was asked if I was interested in that position, that’s one of the first things I went to because my oldest daughter- I can’t remember if she was in high school then or not, and I asked her, I said, “Is this going to bother you?” and I asked all of them and they said, “No, it’s not going to bother us.” I guess I thought about my dad, when I was in his math class all four years of high school and it didn’t bother me … it might have bothered him (laughs)
MB: What was the state of the school’s athletic program when you took over as principal and how was it maintained throughout your time in that position?
DH: Well we were- I think we were very fortunate. We were on a roll. We were having really good success across the board- football, basketball, baseball, volleyball, pretty much all the sports. High schools are strange animals, you’ll go through real dry spells and then have real qualities and all the sudden you’ll hit a streak where they can win with or without you as a coach, that kind of ability. We were fortunate that we were able to secure some really good coaches with good backgrounds. We had good community support, you’re talking about the stands being full- basketball, football, everything- just really good community support. So we were very fortunate.
MB: That was ‘97 to 2006 and over the course of that time, were you able to notice any shifts in the school setting? Whether it be academics, teaching styles, or just the overall student body in that nine year period.
DH: Not really. You know, we did start to get an element of, I don’t know, I hate to say it this way but- We started getting some transfer students that were kind of undesirable.
MB: You could tell they weren’t from around here?
DH: That’s right. That gave us something a little different than the normal Western Craven County kid. That different culture kind of infiltrated, but I think a lot of that has gone away now.
MB: Through those changing times, how would you say you evolved as the principal and as a leader in your tenure there?
DH: Well, I think a lot it causes you not to be complacent when things are going good. You’ve got to be on your toes all the time, because you never know. One of the things that intrigued me about administration is- as a teacher sometimes you unfortunately feel like you kind of get in a rut because it’s kind of the same routine everyday, “you do this, we’re going to go over and review your homework.” In administration you never know. You can plan out, you can have the best plan, “this is what we’re going to try to succeed today” and you never know what’s going to walk through the door first thing in the morning and everything’s out the window. But that was kind of intriguing to me, to be able to think on your feet, so to speak, and be very spontaneous. I think that’s some of the things you learn, you have to be able to roll with the punches and be ready for anything.
MB: Improvise, I guess you could say.
DH: Improvise, that’s right.
MB: What would you say was the most rewarding part of that job? Looking back at the grand scheme of things.
DH: Again, I think it just goes back to the same thing about athletics- the relationships that you built with staff members and with students. You know, just seeing those students come in as little, wet-behind-the-ears freshman, scared to death, and become successful, graduate, go on- whether they go to college, go directly into work, the military, whatever, and become successful in what they want to do. You know, success is not based on financial gain, it’s on their love of life and the things that they’re able to accomplish. You see them out and about with their kids and they’re just having fun and you can tell that they have a good life.
MB: That’s really what it’s all about.
DH: That’s right.
MB: From your perspective now, how would you say high school baseball has changed, if at all, from not only your time as a coach, but watching it as athletic director and principal?
DH: Baseball- my son played, my grandson plays, it’s much more advanced. Of course, one of the things is the skill development, because you pretty much have year-round workouts and things of that nature and they have so much of summer league. But there’s so much- it’d used to be, you know, you get up to bat, hit the ball, run the bases, but now there’s so much involved. So much strategy and so much technology, “what’s the odds of this happening,” they know all that, it’s like a computer game.
MB: You see that in every sport, really, across the board.
DH: Yeah, oh yeah. Really do.
MB: I’ll ask the same thing about just high school in general, specifically high school students. Have you noticed any shifts during recent times that may differ from that age group when you were there on campus?
DH: I think, from what I see, and I’m at the school quite a bit, not just at West Craven but other schools each year, I almost think that kids are kind of getting back more like they were. I mean it’s more- a lot of them are getting more serious- and I know a lot of teachers will disagree, more serious about their education. More and more friendly to one another. That’s one thing we talked about with West Craven, you know sometimes we have our troubles among students, but the thing about it is, if anything comes up against West Craven they all bond together. Hopefully, I’m seeing it right. I’m starting to see things kind of take a turn for the good, for a change. You hear so much bad stuff about schools. A lot of times, if you haven’t been there, if you haven’t walked in those shoes, you don’t really know. From what I see, because I work with Jostens with the class rings, cap and gown, stuff like that- kids are becoming more polite. You know, you go to some of these schools, and you kind of think, “this will be a rough school,” but everything’s “yes, sir / no, ma’am,” stuff like that, just very polite. Hopefully it will become a kinder world.
MB: It gives you something to look forward to in the future.
DH: Yeah, that’s right.
MB: Would you say you’re recognized more as Coach Hughes or Principal Hughes? Or is it kind of fifty-fifty?
DH: Kind of fifty-fifty, because I run into people sometimes and they say, “Oh yeah, he was my coach!” or, “He was my PE teacher!” and then somebody will say, “Oh yeah, I remember when you were assistant principal and you caught me skipping!” But kind of fifty-fifty.
MB: Lastly, when the baseball field was named in your honor, what was that day like for you?
DH: Utter shock. Utter shock. We had talked about going out to the baseball game and then, I don’t know, we were doing something at the house and my wife kept saying, “Come on. We need to go to the game.” We hadn’t been to the last few games. I went out there and my mom and dad and my sisters were there. They live around Fayetteville, and I had no idea. It was a shock. I certainly still don’t feel deserving of that. It was a very nice gesture. I just did what I think any coach would want to do, try to improve your facility and get it better. I guess maybe I did have a little influence in trying to get the booster club and some outside folks to help generate donations. We’d sell this, sell that, donate money to get the lights on the field.
MB: That was kind of the big first step in improving the facility.
DH: Getting that and then, of course,Tim Hardison, who was the baseball coach. When he came there, we secured the funds for him to put in an irrigation system, because we didn’t have one on the field. He physically did the work himself. We bought the materials and everything, but he did that and then after he left it’s been a continuous improvement, with Coach Langston, Coach O’Neill, and Mike McKeel now. It’s a nice little ball park.
MB: I know you’ve seen many generations go through there and you’ve definitely made an impact through those generations.
DH: Hopefully, it was a positive (laughs.)
MB: Oh, for sure. I think so, and as you’ve mentioned, there’s a lot to look forward to in the future in terms of the kids there now and what they can do beyond that. That’s a great thing.
DH: And it’s good too, not just baseball but all sports. You see a lot of the former athletes come out there and volunteer, help coach or help fix the fields, whatever it might be. You know, they want to give back.
MB: That’s what it’s all about.
DH: That’s it.
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