CHANGING OF THE GUARD: Eastern Wayne has new AD, two new coaches on staff

By Ben Coley
Published in Sports on June 30, 2016 1:48 PM

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The Eastern Wayne athletics department will have a slightly different look when the fall season arrives.

Nelson Cunningham will lead as athletics director, while Walker Gourley and Bill Manning will establish new eras for the baseball and basketball programs, respectively.

Each has his own background. Each will be faced with varying responsibilities. But all three are tied together by two key philosophies -- cultivating important relationships and doing the simple things.

Those mindsets begin at the top with principal Lee Johnson, and they immediately trickle down to Cunningham, who will be replacing Jabo Fulghum as athletics director.

In the late 1990s, Cunningham played baseball for Charles B. Aycock under the tutelage of head coach Charles Davis. After graduating from UNC-Wilmington in 2003, Cunningham taught at EW and served as assistant baseball coach under Fulghum.

Following his four-year stint at EW, Cunningham then moved to Aycock, where he held coaching positions with the baseball and football programs.

A few years later, equipped with a master's degree in administration, Cunningham served as assistant principal for Wayne Academy and then held the same position at Eastern Wayne Middle for the past three years. He will be teaching math at the high school.

Cunningham noted that it is an honor to serve as the successor to Fulghum because he always pushed the best and always promoted students' success.

"We're going to continue that (philosophy)," Cunningham said. "I believe Mrs. (Lee) Johnson has some of the same feelings I do in promoting the community, promoting Warrior pride and promoting a quality athlete that expects the best and coaches that expect the best."

Gourley faces a similar situation. He will replace Fulghum, who served as head varsity baseball coach for 24 years.

Gourley played baseball under Fulghum. He graduated from EW in 2009, a year in which the team was the state 3-A runner-up. He was then drafted by the Pirates in the 13th round of the Major League Baseball Draft.

He played six seasons in the Pirates' farm system. After his second full year of playing, he enrolled at the University Phoenix and earned a degree in earth and environmental science. Gourley recently finished his first year of teaching science classes at EW.

Before games, Gourley said that Fulghum used to say "do the simple things well." Gourley liked that approach, and plans to implement the same mindset.

"For coach (Bill) Manning, it's putting the ball in the basket," Gourley said. "For us, the expectation is to play hard for seven innings every single night. Control things we can control, because baseball is a beautiful game that deserves to be played the right way, and it demands respect."

As Gourley stated, Manning plans to push the fundamentals and small things as basketball coach.

Manning graduated from the UNC School of Pharmacy in 1984. For 22 years, he owned and operated Columbia Pharmacy in Columbia -- a small town in Tyrell County. Manning said his itch for sports became overwhelming, and he could no longer stay confined in the walls of his pharmacy.

So almost a decade ago, he sold his store and began coaching the varsity boys' basketball team at Columbia High School. During his nine years as basketball coach, Manning also served as athletics director for three years, helped coach the varsity baseball team, and coached the softball team for a season because they were missing a coach at the time.

He will be in the science department at EW.

EW's varsity basketball program hasn't had a winning season in five years, but Manning has been around the block enough to know that success can't always be gauged by wins and losses. To Manning, success should also be valued by how hard his player's compete.

"When you do the little things all game long, it's amazing what that does at the end of the game," Manning said. "If the fans that watch us play know every student-athlete will play hard every second, then that's going to be exciting for them to watch."

The coaches acknowledged that they are more than willing to work together to support the student-athletes, whether it is adjusting to another sport's workout routines or encouraging students to participate in more than one sport.

Cunningham, Gourley and Manning all know that several athletically-gifted students walk the EW hallways during the school year.

And each of them said they promise to do their best in promoting sports and establishing relationships that will help students grow both on and off the field.

"A non-faculty member may not have the opportunity to see this child walking around campus, and be able to push that relationship they've already created with them and ask them about it," Cunningham said.

"You showed interest, so what's this guy going to do? He's going to try."