Russell Priest Day: Town of Elizabethtown honors the longtime East Bladen baseball coach on Tuesday

ELIZABETHTOWN — Mayor Sylvia Campbell this afternoon announced Tuesday will be “Russell Priest Day.”

The longtime East Bladen High School coach will be honored that evening when the baseball diamond is formally dedicated as Russell Priest Field. The Board of Education approved the naming last February upon his exit from the head coach position he had held since the school opened in 2001-02, and before that when known as the Cougars dating back to 1986-87.

He was an assistant coach for about six years, he estimated, prior to that.

Priest died on July 30, and his funeral was held at the baseball diamond. He was remembered in editorials of the Bladen Journal last August and this week, the latter of which was published Thursday morning at BladenJournal.com prior to Campbell’s announcement and appears in Friday’s print edition.

The proclamation praises him for being “a wonderful husband, father, grandfather, and someone great to know and look up to for guidance and advice.” It also notes his love for baseball, racing, and serving both the Elizabethtown Town Council and the Bladen County Commission.

It concludes, “Whereas, Russell was a man with a ‘Big Heart’ who had compassion and dedication for children through athletics and education.

“Now, therefore, I, Sylvia Campbell, Mayor of the Town of Elizabethtown, hereby honor the memory of Russell Priest for his many contributions to the Elizabethtown community and proclaim May 11, 2021 as ‘Russell Priest Day’ in the Town of Elizabethtown. This is a special way to recognize Russell’s good works and many acts of generosity.”

Priest was an assistant in 1982 when the Cougars won the 3-A state championship. He coached the Eagles to the fourth round, or state quarterfinals, of the 2-A playoffs in 2019 in what would be his final season at the helm.

Colleagues said his teams were always fundamentally sound, ready to play and competitive.

“The biggest thing about Russell, he helped his players. He always put the players first,” Patty Evers said last year when the naming became official. She is East Bladen’s athletics director.

The naming ceremony happens in between the junior varsity and varsity contests being played Tuesday night between East Bladen and rival West Bladen. The JV first pitch is 4 p.m., and the dedication is expected about 6:15 p.m. The varsity game follows, at or near 7 p.m.