Russell Priest, commissioner and coach, remembered fondly by colleagues

ELIZABETHTOWN — Beloved baseball coach and Bladen County commissioner Russell Priest has died.

He would have been 74 next Thursday.

News of his death spread through the community on Thursday morning. He had been sick and hospitalized with pneumonia earlier, but had come back home recently. A number of former players had been to see him recently.

Priest was being remembered fondly for his loyalty to family, friends and community, for his compassion, and for his dedication to children through education and athletics.

Priest was head coach of East Bladen High School baseball teams from 1987 to 2019, when the Eagles reached the fourth round of the state playoffs. The field at the school will be named in his honor, and was to happen this spring before the coronavirus ended the year prematurely.

He was an assistant on the Cougars’ 3-A state title team in 1982. He also coached football for many seasons as an assistant, including several in the last decade with his sons — Robby the head coach, and Ritchie an assistant. The trio coached baseball together as well.

“We had some good seasons,” Priest said in a January interview with the Bladen Journal. “I was lucky: I had good players. They practiced and they worked hard.”

Priest had served as a county commissioner since 2010. Ray Britt, chairman of the commissioners who has known Priest for 55 years, said the community lost one of its best.

“We lost a good commissioner, a good friend, a good daddy, a good father figure for a lot of youth that have come through Bladen County,” the 60-year-old Britt said. “He was a man that liked everyone and worked hard for his community. He wanted the best for everyone. He’s a commissioner that will be very much missed.

“We lift our prayers and thoughts to the family of Russell Priest. We ask everyone to do the same.”

Michael Cogdell, a fellow Democrat on the commission, said he’d known Priest since coming to Bladen County some 37 years ago. Their sons played high school sports together.

“I have admired Russell for my seven and a half years on the board,” Cogdell said. “He was a faithful and loyal colleague. He will be missed. I wish his family well, and everyone he knows the best. I’m sorry, and give all condolences to his wife Doll.”

Priest was already a member of the board when Cogdell was elected in 2012. He appreciated his backing when it came to a recreation initiative that Cogdell presented to the commissioners.

“Russell always had a sincere desire,” he said. “He was an advocate for children, having them involved. I admired him for his support that he gave me when I introduced that initiative. He supported that whole-heartedly, that all children should have access to recreation throughout the county.

“He was an educator, and he believed in that. He was an advocate for children.”

Kim Cain was a friend, colleague and rival coach while at West Bladen. He recalled many stories with great fondness when news of the field naming broke in the winter. He said Priest’s teams, both the Cougars at the old high school and the Eagles at the new one, were as fierce as their coach.

“They wouldn’t back down from you,” Cain said, “and he always put a good product on the field. When you coached against Russell, you knew you had to be prepared. You had to stop the running game, and they always swung the bat well. He always had kids that could hit.”

Dr. Robert Taylor, superintendent of Bladen County Schools, said the community lost “one of its most important leaders.”

“We’ve lost a statesman, a teacher, a coach, but more importantly a father and a husband,” Taylor said. “Coach Priest has given so much to our schools and our community, and this was a lifetime commitment for him. No doubt, countless students and student-athletes owe him a debt of gratitude.

“Coach Priest was one of the first people I met when moving to Bladen County. He and his wife Doll opened their home to us and invited us to church. I immediately knew what kind of gentleman Russell was. I’m proud that we had an opportunity to rename the East Bladen baseball facility after Mr. Priest and he was able to receive this honor. We are sad that he will not witness the ceremony. I, the Board of Education, and the entire Bladen County Schools mourn with the Priest Family.”

Arrangements were announced Friday by Bladen-Gaskins Funeral Home. A funeral will be held Sunday at 3 p.m. at the East Bladen High School baseball field. Burial will follow in Mount Horeb Cemetery in Council.