August 17, 2024
By: Dwayne Page
Twenty-seven years after retiring from the high school baseball coaching ranks, Joey Reeder sat down with WJLE Friday morning for a video interview to reflect on his years as head of the Tiger program and the honor bestowed upon him by the Board of Education Thursday night in naming the DCHS baseball field the “Joey Reeder Field”.
Reeder coached for 16 seasons from 1982 to 1997. The last several years, he has been the DeKalb County School District’s Attendance Supervisor. For Reeder, the naming of the field came as quite a surprise.
“It was a pleasant shock. Its not like I quit coaching a couple of years ago. I have been out for a long time now so I had no idea anything like this was even being considered but I am certainly honored by it,” he said.
Reeder guided the Tiger baseball program to 16 consecutive winning seasons compiling an overall record of 387-146 (.663). His district record was 179-15 (.993) and during the post season his teams went 55-23 (.705). Under Coach Reeder, the Tigers secured 13 District Regular Season and 13 District Tournament Championships, 2 Regional Championships, and 2 State Quarterfinals appearances. Reeder is a 12-time District Coach of the Year, and he was also named 4 times as District Coach of the Year by the Tennessee Athletic Coaches Association and as Regional Coach of the Year by both the Tennessee Athletics Coaches Association and Tennessee Baseball Coaches Association.
Although years have passed, memories linger, and Reeder cherishes them all.
“It seems the farther away it gets, the better it is,” said Reeder. “It was a time in my life I certainly enjoyed and still remember fondly to this day. This honor from the board brings it all back around. Its really special after its been that long to think back about all the teams we had and all the relationships we built and to see how successful so many of those young men turned out to be that we had the opportunity to coach. I think that is more special than anything. Its not the wins and losses. It’s the relationships and successes that our players have had. Hopefully I have played at least a minor role in that in some way,” he said.
Reeder graduated from DCHS in 1977 and furthered his education at MTSU before returning to his high school alma mater to teach and become and assistant football coach and the head baseball coach.
“In 1982 baseball wasn’t that big of a deal,” said Reeder. “I was hired as an assistant football coach to help Coach Wayne Cantrell, and it was basically a job where baseball went with it. I taught World History, General Business, and Consumer Math. Teaching was a lot different back then, but I certainly enjoyed it and I got to work with a lot of great people and a lot of really good principals. It was a good time to be working in high school back in those days,” Reeder continued.
When he took over the baseball program from former coach Mike DeRossett who had left, Reeder had no assistant until Scott Odom was hired some years later. Odom later succeeded Reeder when he stepped down as head coach.
“I can’t remember what year Coach Odom got hired as my assistant baseball coach but that sure was a blessing and a big boost to our program,” Reeder explained. “You wouldn’t think about sending a team off nowadays with one adult and 18-20 kids but back then it was the norm. When Scott was hired he did a really good job and later on he became my successor and continued what we had started and he made it even bigger and better. Scott is a big part of this honor for me and I will forever be indebted to him”.
Even before Reeder’s tenure, DCHS baseball was known for gifted athletes like Greg Tubbs who was drafted in the 22nd round of the 1984 amateur draft by the Atlanta Braves and then in 1993 played for the Cincinnati Reds in the major league. After Reeder’s arrival, other players made names for themselves.
“There were a lot of really good players,” said Reeder. “Kelvin Page, a pitcher, got drafted in the ninth round out of high school by the New York Mets. The first year I coached Kelvin was on the team. Steve Sonneberger was another great player. He moved in here from Waco, Texas. Steve played quarterback for the football team and was a pitcher for our baseball squad. He went to MTSU and broke a lot of records there and later got drafted and played in the Orioles organization for several years. Another great player was Randy Jennings. In fact, he was one of the best we ever had. He later went to Motlow and then to Cumberland and won a college NAIA World Series,” said Reeder. “There were so many of them (great players) but it wasn’t just them that made our program special. The guys that may have been number 17 or 18 on the team were just as glad to be part of it and they worked hard. Back then as long as you were winning everybody didn’t have to play. They were happy to be part of a successful program, and I was always thankful for that. Of course everybody wants to play. It’s why we are out there,” Reeder said.
With all the success the Reeder coached teams experienced, a state tournament championship always eluded them even though twice teams advanced to the quarter finals.
“There were three classes in those days including 1A, 2A, and 3A and we were always in 2A”, explained Reeder. “Another difference is that today they take eight teams from each Class to the state tournament and back then they only took four teams so now you have twice as many chances of getting there than before. We got to the final eight a couple of times but we never got over the hump and ran into some really good teams with really good pitching and got beat,” said Reeder. “In high school athletics, its not always about how good a team you have but how good a team those people are you have to meet along the way in the tournament. You could be really good and have the second-best team in the state and get eliminated by the state champion somewhere along the way. It was disappointing at the time but looking back on it most years we probably got about as far as we needed to go. We had a lot of good teams but not always a lot of great teams. Its hard with the size school we have to have that many great athletes at one time, but I am certainly proud of what we were able to accomplish,” said Reeder.
Coaches often times get much of the credit for a team’s success, but Reeder said it’s the players who really make it happen.
“We were fortunate. Somebody texted me about what a good job we had done. I said no we just had a lot of good Jimmy’s and Joe’s. Coaches can help but players win games, and I know without them I couldn’t have won anything. They were all special”.
Reeder said the support of family and friends also made a difference.
“My dad (Joe Reeder) passed away in 2009 but when I was coaching he and mom (Faye) who just celebrated a birthday this week, were there at most of the games. I also can’t say enough about my wife Shelby. We have been married for a long time. We had our daughter Paige in 1988 after I had been coaching a while. During those coaching years I wasn’t at home as much as I should have been. I realized that if I kept doing this, Paige would soon be grown and I would miss a lot of time with her so I took this job (Attendance Supervisor) when it opened up thanks to Ernest Ray who was the Director of Schools then. By that time I had accomplished a lot in coaching and was satisfied with where I was at so I walked away from coaching. I can’t say I’ve missed it. I miss the relationships with the kids, but I don’t miss the fundraising or working on the field”.
Again, as for the naming of the field in his honor, Reeder said he certainly appreciates it but isn’t sure he deserves it. He is also thankful to the people who helped him along the way during his coaching career.
“I thank everybody who had a part in it including every player we have ever had, every principal I worked for, and every coach in other sports that I coached with. Everyone was so helpful. When I started coaching, we didn’t have a lot of money and resources for the baseball program, but people made donations and helped us any way they could. There was not a lot going on in the early 1980’s but people seemed to gravitate to our baseball program and our local media covered us which made other teams across the district jealous because they didn’t have that. It was a great time to be a coach and we had great parents to work with and I enjoyed every minute of it. Although I left it behind at a relatively young age and had an opportunity to coach a couple of places after I retired I never really considered it because DeKalb County is home and really the only place I ever wanted to work”.
Although his coaching years are behind him, Reeder still enjoys his day job and isn’t ready for retirement from that just yet. He also loves spending time with his family including his wife, daughter, her husband Byron Adcock and their children Stella and Lakelyn who are students at Northside Elementary School.
“The good Lord has been very good to me and my family. I’m thankful to be living in DeKalb County. Its been a good life”.