Retired Irwin County baseball coach Cliff Tankersley will be one of five new members inducted into the Georgia Dugout Club Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2024.
GDC to induct five new members into Hall of Fame
The Georgia Dugout Club will induct five new members into its Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2024. The five newest members will be inducted during the annual GDC Coaches Clinic scheduled for Dec. 12-14, 2024 at the Atlanta Renaissance Waverly Hotel.
The five newest members are retired Roswell baseball coach John Coen, former Jefferson High coach Tommy Knight, longtime Forsyth County coach Byron Orr, former Loganville coach Jeff Segars and retired Irwin County coach Cliff Tankersley.
Retired Roswell coach John Coen
John Coen
Roswell
John Coen was asked by a college faculty member if he had ever considered coaching.
“I told my advisor in college that I had thought about coaching, but then I would have to teach,” Coen joked.
The longtime coach was graduating with a political science degree and Mary Hepburn, his academic advisor at Georgia, wanted to know how he planned to use his degree in social science.
Some five decades later, Coen is glad he listened to his advisor. The Roswell High School coach enjoyed success as the varsity baseball coach as well as serving as an assistant in wrestling and football. Coen’s baseball success at Roswell landed him in the Georgia Dugout Club Hall of Fame.
“I remember Coach McDonald calling me and telling me that,” Coen said. “I thought he was kidding.”
Coen won’t take credit for his success at Roswell, but he played a big role in helping the Hornets become a baseball power. He led the program from 1977 to 1997, guiding the school to a state baseball championship in 1986. He led the program to multiple region titles and also coached football and wrestling as an assistant during his time and also served as the athletic director. After 40 years at Roswell, he retired after the 2017 season.
Coen’s love for Roswell athletics led him back to the school after graduating from college.
He said he would have likely worked for the Parks & Recreation Department had he not received recommendations from his coach, Charlie Horne, and athletic director Ray Manus. Coen had played on two of Horne’s state championship baseball teams in 1970 and ’71.
“I had gotten a master’s degree and they told me I was going to coach JV football, wrestling and be the head baseball coach,” Coen said. “I begged them not to make me the head baseball coach at first. I had an assistant named Pete Poulos and I begged him to take the baseball job. He coached me my senior year and he was sort of going to be my assistant until I got some sea legs.”
In 20-plus years, Coen won more than 265 baseball games and competed with some of the best programs in metro Atlanta. His approach, although unorthodox to some, is a reason many of his former players still hold him in high regard.
Coen worked his team hard, but he was a prankster who joked with his players during school and at practices.
“I wanted my players to have fun,” he said. “Winning is a big deal and we wanted to do everything we could to win. But at the end of the day, I didn’t want to sour my players on athletics because we didn’t have fun. High school athletics should be a special time in a kid’s life.”
Coen also groomed countless assistant coaches, notables such as Georgia Dugout Club Hall of Fame coaches Mike Strickland and Mike Power.
“John Coen loves Roswell,” Strickland said. He has spent a majority of his life dedicating it to the youth of Roswell. Coach Coen genuinely cared about every kid in Roswell, he didn’t care about how much money your family made, or your skin color, or how talented you were, he cared about how you could fit in and be a part of Roswell and being a Hornet. He spent a lot of time working to get better and competing. He loved to win and taught that winning was a by-product of your effort, your sacrifice and your talent.
“Personally, Coach Coen gave me tremendous freedom as a young coach to implement new ideas – to see them succeed or fail, take responsibility for them equally, move on and get better.”
Coen joked that he knew when it was time to quit coaching baseball when he had top-notch assistants like Strickland and Alan Dyer. But when he was honored by the Marietta Umpires Association, he wanted to leave on a high note.
“The Marietta Umpires Association gave a plaque annually for sportsmanship and I got it,” Coen said. “I figured when the umpires started liking me, it was time to get the heck out. So I did.”
Former Jefferson coach Tommy Knight
Tommy Knight
Jefferson
Coaching baseball was a big deal for Tommy Knight. But the legacy he left off the field was perhaps more important.
The longtime Jefferson High School coach, a devout Christian, is perhaps more satisfied with the seeds he said he was used by God to plant. Baseball was just the avenue he used to do it.
Knight is one of six inductees who will be inducted into the Georgia Dugout Club Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2025.
“There are two things that are very rewarding for me,” Knight said. “One, is seeing the players grow up while they are in your program and seeing them become successful men, husbands and fathers after they move on. A perfect example of this is a young man named Billy Finch, who was in our program several years ago. His freshman and sophomore years, we went round-and-round about things like accountability, doing everything the best you can every single day, and what being on a team really meant. I really didn't know if he was going to make it to his senior year, but he did. Not only did he make it, he was our leader on the 2018 state championship team. He's now a very successful young man with a great career. That just makes you feel good.
“The second, and most important thing is seeing a kid give his life to Jesus Christ, either while they are with you or later on in life. God blessed me with the opportunity to plant the seeds of the gospel and be a part of the greatest game in the world at the same time.”
Knight, however, has an impressive group of accomplishments to merit his induction into the GDC Hall.
He compiled a 585-454 career coaching mark before retiring after the 2022 season. Most of those wins came in 22 yesrs at Jefferson where he guided the Dragons to a state baseball title in 2018 and two state runner-up finishes. He also made three trips to the state semifinals.
His career also included stops at Sumter County High School and collegiate stops at LaGrange College and Southern Polytechnic.
The Americus/Sumter County native was also a standout at nearby Georgia Southwestern before getting drafted by the Atlanta Braves.
But Knight would rather not talk about himself. In fact, he was stunned when GDC officials called to tell him he would be inducted into the GDC Hall of Fame.
“When I got the call from Coach (David) McDonald, I was pretty shocked,” Knight said. “When you look at the list of coaches that are in the Dugout Club Hall of Fame, it's a pretty impressive list of names.
“There are names on that list that I remember from when my dad was coaching. Also, there are coaches on there that had an impact on me when I was a young coach, and guys I've looked up to my entire career. You look at that list and it's just an honor to be mentioned with the coaches on there.”
Current Commerce head baseball coach Steve Cotrell played under Knight at LaGrange. Cotrell and his wife Crystal, who played softball at the college, were dating at the time and formed a bond with the Knight family. The Cotrells often babysat his two daughters - xxxx and xxxx - so the Knights could have a date night.
Steve Cotrell remains a big fan of Knight.
“I still stay connected with him and give him a hard time,” Cotrell said. “I know he coached bass fishing at Jefferson High, so I used to tell him that was as close to being an old man as he could get.”
Cotrell said Knight was a mentor in so many ways, but the biggest he said was Knight’s willingness to help him in the mental part of the game.
“Things weren’t going good last year and I called him for some advice,” Cotrell said. “He’s always handled himself professionally and coached kids like they were his own. He went about his business daily and he’d work your tail off. He’s a good person, a great human-being, a great coach and a great mentor.”
After two seasons of being away, Knight said there are still some things he misses.
“What I miss the most is being a part of a team,” he said. “I've been on some kind of team since I was 5 years old and now I'm not and it's really strange. I miss the relationships that you build with your coaching staff and your players. I miss the coaches office where all the team (and sometimes the world’s) pressing problems are solved. Tight bonds are built during those times.”
Longtime Forsyth County baseball coach Byron Orr
Bron Orr
Forsyth County
The phone call from Georgia Dugout Club Executive Director David McDonald seemed a bit unusual for Byron Orr.
“The call sort of came from left field,” Orr said. “I had no idea. I was outside and carried my phone with me. I usually don’t talk to Coach McDonald on a regular basis.”
McDonald wanted to tell Orr, one of the architects of Forsyth County’s successful baseball and softball programs, that he would be one of six inductees into the Georgia Dugout Club Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2025.
“I had told somebody that if you stay in it long enough, something good will happen,” Orr said. “I don’t really think about stuff like that, but it’s a big honor. There’s a lot of good people in there. To me, it’s a big deal.”
Of Forsyth County’s six high schools, Orr has spent time at three of them – Forsyth Central, North Forsyth and West Forsyth. Of Forsyth County’s two state baseball titles, Orr guided North Forsyth to one of them in 1998 (Lambert won the other in 2014).
His resume is impressive. As a head baseball coach at Forsyth Central, North Forsyth and West Forsyth, he combined to win more than 240 games in 19 seasons. He also took North Forsyth to a state runner-up finish in 1997.
He was named State Coach of the Year by the Georgia Athletic Coaches Association in 1998 as well as Georgia Dugout Club Class A Coach of the Year in 1997.
Orr also coached softball for 12 seasons at North Forsyth and West Forsyth where he combined to win 278 games. He took North Forsyth to back-to-back state softball titles in 1997-98 and was named GACA Coach of the Year both of those seasons.
The longtime coach said he just wanted Forsyth County’s high school baseball and softball programs to be relevant.
“When I started, I did the JV for my first five years,” he said. “We had some good athletes who played baseball, but baseball wasn’t taken seriously.”
Orr’s teams competed in regions with more-established metro baseball programs from Gwinnett and Cobb Counties. His teams worked hard, playing the best teams during spring and continuing to sharpen their skills in the summer working on fundamentals. Finally, his teams reached a point where they could compete.
“It wasn’t always easy, but we did get to a point where we go head-to-head with many of them,” he said. “We didn’t always come out on top, but we competed with them.”
Orr worked his team’s hard, but his main focus was to get his players to believe in his system.
“If I could ever get them to believe in what we were doing was the right thing, they would be successful,” he said. “It wasn’t always about winning, although you had to be successful or you would get moved out. But it was about covering the little details.”
In a little more than three decades, North Forsyth has had only two head baseball coaches – Orr and current coach Jim Cahill, whom Orr hired as his assistant in 2001.
“He definitely made my transition to Georgia a lot easier,” Cahill said. “He’s a big baseball coach and you could see right away he was in it for the kids. He’s been all over the county doing good stuff. He also started the program at West Forsyth and laid the foundation for their current success.”
Orr’s accomplishments don’t stop on the baseball and softball diamond. He’s helped more than 45 baseball players go on to the next level. He was named Forsyth County’s Teacher of the Year in 2001-02.
He is the founder of the Lanier Officials Association and a member of the North Forsyth High School Hall of Fame. He is married to Dr. Cindy Orr and has one son, Dr. Brodie Orr, DDS.
Former Loganville coach Jeff Segars
Jeff Segars
Loganville
Georgia Dugout Club Executive Director David McDonald tried to describe what former Loganville head baseball coach Jeff Segars has done to promote Georgia high school baseball.
“Coordinator, secretary, coach … he’s done everything to promote high school baseball in this state,” McDonald said. “And as the (school) athletic director, he’s leading a program to be successful in all sports.”
One of the more decorated individuals to get inducted into the Georgia Dugout Club Hall of Fame, Segars quietly built Loganville baseball into a national power before resigning and stepping into the athletic director’s role after the 2021 season.
Segars along with Roger Parham and Cecil Barber helped launch the GDC Top 100 Underclassmen Showcase, which in more than two decades has evolved into one of the country’s top scouting events for Georgia underclassmen baseball players.
He has also served as the Georgia Dugout Club’s de facto communications specialist, writing newsletters, providing support for state coaches looking for games and handling the organization’s social media accounts.
Segars has done numerous duties for the GDC while helping Loganville baseball become a dynasty and his teams annually finishing ranked in the country’s top media outlet polls.
After graduating from Oconee County High and playing collegiately at Georgia College, Segars took over at Loganville in 1999 and led the Red Devils to state baseball titles in 2008, 2012, 2017, 2018 and 2019. Three of his teams also finished as state runner-up in 2002, 2016 and 2021.
He led the program to the postseason 19 times and won 10 region titles while compiling an overall coaching record of 547-212. He helped send more than 90 players to college. Two of his prized pupils were Major League stars Brandon Moss and Clint Frazier.
But Segars would rather deflect the praise.
“If you’d told me in a million years that we’d had the success we had, I wouldn’t have believed it,” he said. “Every coach wants to win a title. Loganville had had one winning season (before 1999) and we hit it at the right time. We had a lot of good people work hard and some unbelievable coaches that were with me 20-plus years.”
While he credits many for Loganville’s success, assistants Brandon Anglin, Mike Ryan, Andy Sargent and current head coach Bran Mills were part of his staff for more than two decades. He said coaching chemistry is a big reason for the program’s achievements.
“Not to say we haven’t tweaked things over the years, our staff has been great at looking at where we’re lacking and put a little more effort into that area. And the kids have bought in.”
One of his proudest accomplishments has been the success of the Top 100 Underclassmen Showcase, something Segars modeled after the prestigious Las Vegas Top Gun Showcase in the early 2000s.
McDonald said Segars always fulfills his tasks to the best of his ability.
“He’s a done a fantastic job,” McDonald said. “You stop and think about Loganville. They play their best game every night and do all the little things right. They’ve had players, but they’ve developed that talent.”
Segars also oversaw construction of the school’s new baseball field that rivals some of the country’s top collegiate and professional facilities.
He still coaches although he’s in a less visible role. But his impact goes beyond the game.
“I just want to do the right thing,” he said. “The wins are great, but getting a chance to make an impact on kids is even better. I don’t look at it as a job but a calling. It’s been a lot of fun. I wouldn’t trade it for any other job.”
Retired Irwin County coach Cliff Tankersley, left.
Cliff Tankersley
Irwin County
When Cliff Tankersley is inducted into the Georgia Dugout Club Hall of Fame later this year, he may receive the award, but he wants the entire Irwin County community to know that they played just as much a part in his baseball success as the legendary coach did.
Tankersley will be one of five inducted into the Georgia Dugout Club Hall of Fame as a part of the class of 2025.
He said that a valuable asset for Irwin’s baseball history and success can be attributed to the community support, financial support and the numerous individuals, moms, and dads who volunteer to help coach and teach kids during the formative years in church, T-ball, Little League and middle school.
“I do feel very honored and blessed to be going into the Hall of Fame”, he said. “It’s a humbling and prestigious honor because there are many great coaches in there.”
Tankersley, a native of Irwin Conty spent his first three years teaching and coaching at Montgomery County before returning home to coach the Indian baseball program for 15 years. He compiled an overall record of 304-118 and guided Irwin County to a state baseball title in 1997.
From 1993-1998, Tankersley’s teams made it to the state semifinals or better every year, finishing with a state title, three state runner-up finishes and five region titles.
“I would like to acknowledge an important key to my success,” he said. “I was fortunate to have two Godly Christian parents, Cleon and Carolyn Tankersley who taught me and my sister, Jane, to put Christ first in everything we did. That was the foundation. That put me on the right track. Trusting Christ is huge. Next, the Lord blessed me and my strong, supportive wife, Nanci, with the opportunity to return to Irwin County to teach and coach in a community that loves kids and supports them 100 percent.”
Tankersley learned the value of setting goals and striving to achieve them as a player in 1973. He said that his sophomore year his coach -L.M. Wesson - asked each player to list five goals on the bill of their baseball cap.
“I remember the next day when Coach asked us to reveal our goals, nobody had put down win a state championship. “ he said. “He changed our way of thinking and work ethics.”
Coach Wesson led Irwin to the school’s first state championship in 1973. The next season, Irwin lost the state championship to Harlem.
“My senior year in 1975, we beat Harlem for the school’s second state championship,” Tankersley said. “Setting goals and working hard to accomplish them was now proven and engrained in my head.”
When Tankersley became a head coach he wrote two goals on his hat bill each season. One was Proverbs 3:5-6 which reads, “Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding In all thy ways acknowledge him and he will direct your paths.”
Tankersley said he later added B+ on his ball cap after adopting it from an admired school administrator, Mr. Larry Cowart.
“Mr. Cowart had a large B+ on his office door, and one day I asked him what that B+ was about,” Tankersley said. “He said, ‘Coach, that is a reminder for me to be positive.’ I liked that and added it to my cap bill and tried to instill that in our kids.”
Tankersley was known for producing fundamentally sound teams who could hit, pitch, and play defense. One of Tankersley’s biggest rivals was Clinch County, coached by GDC hall of famer, Cecil Barber. The winner during the regular season between the two teams usually won the region and, in many cases, went on to win the state championship in Class A. Only the region champion in those days made the state playoffs.
Barber said Tankersley’s teams were always tough to beat.
“Irwin County was just as good as we were”, Barber said. “Cliff Tankersley always put some good teams on the field. They always did the little things the right way.”
He stepped away as the head baseball coach in 1998, but he continued to be an assistant from 2002-2005. He was named the Irwin County Teacher of the Year in 2010 before officially retiring in 2012. He still makes his way to the field to watch his son, Drew, the current head coach, continue the elder Tankersley’s legacy.
“I’ve enjoyed sitting on the other side of the fence and watching Drew coach”, Tankersley said. “We’ve got some of the same signals that I used, so it’s kind of fun to know what’s going to happen before everyone else does.”
“Baseball has taught me a lot of lessons about life”, he said. “You should treat people the way you want to be treated, grow through adversity, and do the little things the right way.”