Winston-Salem baseball coach dies of the flu at 25. Calvary Day School players dedicate season to Harrison Vaughan (2024)

MARC PRUITTStaff Reporter

Olivia Beth Vaughan thought she knew everything she could possibly know about her oldest brother Harrison.

“Someone went up to his room at my parents’ house last week to put a comforter on his bed and came downstairs and said, ‘I think there’s a snake in there,” she recalled with a laugh.

“There’s no way there are any snakes in there. My mom hates snakes. And they said, ‘no, it’s up there, and I think there might be TWO of them.’”

Vaughan turned to her sister-in-law, Haley, and asked her if she knew anything.

“And her response was, and I quote, ‘Well, I wasn’t supposed to say anything,’”Olivia Beth said, letting out another laugh.

There were indeed two snakes, a boa and a ball python.

“It was a funny moment to discover we had two reptiles at my parents’ house that Harrison had smuggled in,” she said.

It was a brief moment of respite forOlivia Beth in what has been a tumultuous last several weeks for her and the Vaughan family.

Harrison died unexpectedly on Feb. 20 from complications of the flu.

He was 25 years old.

Harrison Vaughan was a beloved physical education teacher for the Lower School at Calvary Day, where he was in his first season as the head baseball coach.

Members of his family said that, above everything else, Harrison had his priorities straight.

“It was his love for Jesus first, his wife, Haley, second, his family third and baseball fourth,” said Erik Vaughan, Harrison’s father. “He had so much passion for all of it that it all rose to the top with everything he was doing.”

He played baseball at Calvary in middle school and high school. He knew he wanted to return to his alma mater and eventually become the baseball coach there.

“He told me several years ago that it would be his dream job,” said Joe Rybak, the athletics director at Calvary. “And last year when the job came open, I knew he was my guy. He was so excited to get that opportunity.”

The first call Harrison Vaughan made when he became the team’s coach was to his father. Harrison couldn’t imagine coaching the team without his father, who had coached him as a child, by his side.

“I couldn’t wait to work with him," Erik Vaughan said. "We got to work last June and we had all summer and fall to work with these young men. We got to enjoy some time together getting these young men ready for the season.”

Scott Humphrey, who started the season as an assistant coach and is now the interim coach at Calvary, also coached Harrison at Southwest Little League.

“Harrison contacted me and told me he needed another assistant coach this season,” Humphrey said. “It really gave me a new lease on life because I had just been released as the coach at another school on Jan. 31. My first day was Feb. 15. He was sick that day but was at practice. That was the only day we were on the field together. Things just progressed from there.”

Calvary Day practices and plays its home games at Wilson Parkin Clemmons.

Harrison and his family spent lots of time at Wilson Park, playing Little League games for Southwest and then his high school games for Calvary.

Harrison’s family members have gathered at the baseball field at Wilson Park every day since his funeral on Feb. 24.

They go there knowing it was Harrison’s happy place. They go there to support Erik, who remains in his coaching role. They go to support the players. They go there to feel the support and love from the team. They go there to feel close to Harrison.

“This is one of his favorite places,” Haley Vaughan said. “It is an honor to be out here because I know he would have wanted us to be here. This team is his legacy and we want to support that in any way we can.”

Haley and Harrison were high-school sweethearts. They began dating in ninth grade at Calvary and married last May.

“He just loved everything about his job and loved being able to coach these players,” Haley said. “I think us being here is an important part in helping us all heal.”

Holly Vaughan, Harrison’s mother, echoed Haley’s sentiments.

“Coming out here that first time was hard,” Holly Vaughan said. “But every time we’re out here, we have those emotions, but we’re here honoring Harrison. I just feel love when I’m out here. I’ll be here to support my husband. He was supposed to be coaching with Harrison. We are grieving together and there is strength there.”

Hunter Vaughan, Harrison’s brother, enjoyed plenty of special memories on the same baseball fields with his brother.

“A lot of my best memories are on this field with Harrison," Hunter Vaughan said. "He was kind. He was protective. He was gentle-natured. He was the kind of guy who was always looking out for everybody and celebrating everybody else. He was never self-serving...He was such a pure spirit and this still doesn’t even feel real. I don’t think it will for a while. I looked up to him in every way a younger brother can. He was the best of us.”

Jamie Lowe, who coached Harrison at Carolina University, said it brought a smile to his face when Harrison called him to let him know he got the coaching job at Calvary.

“I knew he’d be perfect for that,” Lowe said. “His positive outlook, that positive spin he would always put on things would always shine through.”

Lowe also remembered Vaughan’s love of the outdoors and how he shared that with the team.

“He brought a duck decoy to our games that became a good luck charm for us,” Lowe said. “That duck is still there, I think. It went to the World Series in 2021 with us to Easley, S.C. and to another in Kansas City in 2022.”

The team at Calvary will wear patches on their hats this season with Harrison’s initials, “HV”, with a camouflage background.

A GoFundMe account has been set up to fund a scholarship in Harrison’s name.

When Calvary played its first game of the season on Feb. 27 against Grace Christian, the grass alongside the third base dugout read “Vaughan Field” in white letters.

Both teams gathered before the first pitch to pray together.

Calvary fell behind 1-0 but rallied and won the game 9-1, three days after attending the funeral of their coach.

“We’ve all shed our share of tears,” Preston Tate, the starting pitcher for the Cougars said. “After the game, we were all kind of lifted up. We won the game for him. There’s no better way to honor him than that.”

Erik Vaughan said his emotions got the best of him a few times during that first game.

“I looked over to third base a few times and that’s where he was supposed to be," he said. "I didn’t see him there. There were moments during the game that I had to turn around for a minute because I missed him. For us, the jubilation was for these young men who overcame what they were going through to win a baseball game. To see the joy on their faces was just awesome.

"I love being out here because my son loved being out here. And I felt like he was right there with me that night.”