Building a Family on the Diamond

Alexander Central High School in Taylorsville, North Carolina, is the home of two experienced coaches, Darrell Adkins and Pete Hardee, that value the idea of their respective teams being a family.

The head softball coach at ACHS, Adkins, has been coaching in the Alexander County school system since 1996 at the middle school and high school level. Hardee is the head baseball coach at ACHS, and prior to coaching at Alexander, he coached at West Caldwell from 1989 to 1993, then New Bern from 1993 to 1995, before spending 20 seasons as the head coach at Watauga High School in Boone.

Alexander Central head baseball coach, Pete Hardee
Credit: D.N. Pennell, Jr. with the Taylorsville Times

Alexander Central head softball coach, Darrell Adkins
Credit: D.N. Pennell, Jr. with the Taylorsville Times

“My baseball team is a family and we have to stick together,” Hardee said. “Outside people will judge us, cheer for us, and boo us, but we have to stay together. We have to sacrifice for each other.”

Both Adkins and Hardee were hired on in 2015 and are only in their second seasons at Alexander, yet both already embrace the idea of their teams being a family and emphasize just how important that concept can be.

“I do believe our softball team is a family,” said Adkins. “We spend approximately 3 to 4 hours per day together practicing, working, and playing games. We learn things about each other, things we like and things we don’t like, and we care about each other.”

Both coaches have spent time in a dual role as both a coach to their players and a parent to their respective children over their combined 49 years in a coaching role. For Adkins, there are similar attributes of his parenting that he also uses in coaching.

“Care, love, discipline, and respect are the main components instilled in [my] family values and our softball team beliefs,” said Adkins.

As a parent, Hardee was able to care and appreciate his players more as someone else’s son, for while he disciplines and encourages them on the diamond, they are treated likewise by their parents or guardians at home.

Hardee believes that developing his athletes into better baseball players is essential to their success over one season, but also hopes to mature them into people that will be successful beyond baseball.

“I try to teach my players how to be men, the head of their household,” Hardee said. “Good leaders, providers, and supporters.”

Before coaching, Hardee pitched at Appalachian State University from 1981 to 1984 earning Division I All-American honors in 1984 with a 12-1 record and a meager 1.07 ERA. In 2007, he was inducted into the Appalachian State Athletics Hall of Fame. He was coached by the winningest coach in Mountaineer history, Jim Morris, also an App State Hall of Famer, who won 611 games over his 25 years at Appalachian.

Pete Hardee during his Appalachian State days
Credit: Appalachian State Strategic Communications

Even though it’s been over 30 years since Hardee’s last season at Appalachian, Morris’ influence left a lasting impact on Hardee’s life beyond the game of baseball, just as Hardee hopes to provide guidance to his players in life.

“Coach Morris treated me like family,” Hardee said. “He was hard on me, but he cared about me. He is proud of me, which means the world to me.”

It’s made evident that building a team into a family can result in success on the field by how both Adkins and Hardee led their respective teams in 2016.

Adkins, in his first season as head coach, led the softball team to a 25-5 overall record and 12-2 conference record. Similarly, the baseball team posted a 13-11 regular season record and a 10-4 conference record in Hardee’s first season.

Alexander Central baseball is set to kick off its 2017 campaign as it hosts a scrimmage against Hickory High School on February 22, while ACHS softball heads to Forbush High School for a weekend scrimmage on February 28.