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The Brewton community will gather to honor the memory of the late Coach Darrell Blevins at a ceremony on the Coastal Alabama Community College baseball field in Brewton at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 5. Blevins, a respected coach, instructor and deacon at First Baptist Church of Brewton, was Head Baseball Coach of the Warhawks for 15 seasons. He passed away in August 2021.
In his honor, his colleagues at Coastal Alabama Community College have organized Darrell Blevins Day, which will include ceremonies by players, coaches and the Blevins family on both the Warhawk baseball and softball fields prior to those teams’ respective games. The men’s team will take on Marion Military Institute under the guidance of first-time coach Brock Moss, while the women’s softball team plays Shelton State under legendary coach Misti Nims.
“It was an honor to work alongside Darrell over the last 16 years,” Nims said. “His sense of faith, family, and passion for the game is, and always will be missed. Our goal here on the Brewton Campus is to honor Darrell each year by having a day to remember who he was while raising money for the Darrell Blevins Scholarship Fund.”
A longtime friend and colleague of Blevins, Nims helped spearhead the community memorial, according to Dennis Fuqua, director of Coastal Alabama Community College’s Brewton campus.
“Darrell’s family, much like him, are of very high moral character,” Fuqua said. “And our community feels a void at work and at home and we’re trying to do things the right way in moving forward so we honor a really good man who was an important part of our community, and our faculty here.”
The ceremony will begin at 11 a.m. on the baseball field, prior to the Marion game’s start at 11:30 a.m. The congregation will then proceed to the nearby softball field around 11:40 a.m., to remember Coach Blevins before the first pitch of that contest at noon.
Coastal Alabama Community College Athletic Director Daniel Head said it was fitting such a devoted coach would be remembered on the fields he loved so much.
“I learn about his impact within the community on a weekly basis, and being that baseball was such a big part of his life, we wanted to honor him somewhere that was his sanctuary,” Head said.
Shelton State’s head coach, Buddy Boyle, is a longtime friend of Coach Blevins, and wanted his team to pay their respects during Darrell Blevins Day, according to Head.
Tailgating is encouraged outside of both fields on Feb. 5, and admission to each of the day’s games will be waived in lieu of donations to the Darrell Blevins Scholarship Fund, which was organized by the Alabama Baseball Coaches Association in the wake of his death. The scholarship’s first recipient was Coach Blevins’ son Kyle, a senior at T.R. Miller High School, who received $1,500 scholarship in November and has signed a letter of commitment to play college ball for the Warhawks team his father helmed for so many years.
“Darrell Blevins Day is going to be a really nice tribute and a great start to the season,” Dennis Fuqua said.