Hall of Fame coach honored in field dedication
GUYTON – South Effingham High School and the Effingham County Board of Education recognized Coach Tony Kirkland on Saturday afternoon by naming the SEHS baseball field in his honor.
Kirkland spent six years at the helm of the Mustang program from 2003-2009, beginning his career as a head coach in Georgia with a record of 138-53.
During this time, the Mustangs won three region championships, reached the state semifinals four times and the state quarterfinals once.
Kirkland went on to coach at Colquitt County from 2009 until 2019 and amassed a career total of 301 wins.
Kirkland sent 16 Mustangs to play baseball at the college level, and two were drafted by the MLB in 2013.
Future MLB player Josh Reddick was a rising junior when Kirkland became the coach at South Effingham. The two have had a close bond ever since.
Asked about his history with the park and coach Kirkland, Reddick said, “Only a certain amount of people saw what he really did for this place. Today just speaks volumes about him and what he started.”
Reddick remembers Kirkland as a confidence-builder.
“Rains comin’ in, we’re down by one run, and I’m up to the plate, and he looked to me and said, ‘I need you to hit a home run right here,’” Reddick said. “I did on the third pitch, and that’s when the nickname he gave me, The Freak, came around.”
Kirkland was surrounded by his family and past assistant coaches, boosters, parents, and former players, many of whom brought their children, when Tony Kirkland Field (also known as “The TK”) was unveiled to the public.
Current Mustang Head Coach Jesse Osborne, a former Mustang player under Kirkland, and Justin Merritt, SEHS athletic director and one of Kirkland’s former Mustang assistant coaches, headed up the approval process for the field dedication in conjunction with Superintendent Yancy Ford and the Effingham Board of Education.
Ron Womack, former Mustang head coach who followed Kirkland in 2009 and current Chief Operations Officer of Effingham Schools, shared, “He (Coach Kirkland) was one of the best player communicators I have ever been around. That is the number one thing I learned from him.”
Kirkland was honored by the Georgia Dugout Club with the Ethics and Professional Coaching Award in 2013, and in 2018, he was inducted into the Georgia Dugout Club Hall of Fame.
SEHS Athletic Director Justin Merritt summed up Kirkland’s intensity and passion for the game: “I had never seen, at that point, a coach as devoted to their program and devoted to their kids. Tony Kirkland taught me more about baseball than I ever learned anywhere else. He taught me the work ethic of a coach, the hours of a coach, every piece of it. I owe coach Kirkland so much I don’t even know where to start.”
Kirkland plans to visit his namesake often and hopes that in the near future, his family will meet in Guyton again to possibly watch a Mustang vs. Centennial High School matchup between his former player Jesse Osborne’s team and the Knights, led by his son, second-year head coach Colin Kirkland.