FOREVER A TROJAN: Former players return, good friends toast Lancaster's success

By News-Argus Staff
Published in Sports on July 1, 2018 2:39 PM

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By RUDY COGGINS

rcoggins@newsargus.com

Carl Lancaster felt overwhelmed.

Humbled, even.

Throughout the night, a slight grin curled his lips and a few laughs escaped from the square-jawed individual who guided the University of Mount Olive baseball program with a firm hand for three-plus decades.

His legacy sat before him -- former players who brought along their wives and children, mentors, friends and his family. The faces resembled a wonderful wide tapestry in which Lancaster guided every thread, and placed it beside another thread to be held and carried by a hundred others.

"Every time I heard Jerry Narron speak, he always talked about how blessed he's been," Lancaster said. "Early on when he was using that phrase, I thought he was talking about [God] because he's pretty religious. But when I get to where I'm at right now, I understand that's not what he was saying at all.

"The game of baseball has truly blessed him in many a way."

From his modest beginning as head baseball coach at Eastern Wayne to taking over at UMO and nurturing it from its NAIA days to the NCAA Division II ranks, Lancaster has been blessed, too.

He singled out Doyle Whitfield, James "Rabbit" Fulghum and the late Buck Hardee -- three coaches who showed Lancaster the ropes as a 22-year-old. He took his lumps, but learned valuable lessons -- more as a person than as a coach -- along the way that he carried with him throughout his career.

"You either get in and get it going, or you're just going to sink right away," Lancaster said.

Lancaster guided EW to the state finals in 1982.

A few years later, he sauntered down to Mount Olive and racked up 1,135 victories including winning the Division II College World Series crown in 2008.

But this retirement party wasn't a tribute to Lancaster's coaching accolades.

Instead, it was an opportunity for his players and friends to offer their thanks and share their memories. They reminisced about Faison, a gaudy red drum button-down shirt, an evening at Hooters, recruiting a player from a rival school and so on.

Before they could regale the crowd with their tales, Lancaster cautioned everyone not to believe everything they heard.

"There's not a player in this room who couldn't get me fired in this day and time," Lancaster said. "I'm glad I'm quitting before they do. The guys here...we have so many memories."

•

Faison.

One person says the tiny rural town across the county line is seven miles from Mount Olive.

Another says it's 6.8.

Regardless, Lancaster used to crank up either his red Ranger or green Toyota and carry a few players to the convenient store located on the corner of SE Center Street and East Main St. He'd drop them off and make them run back to campus.

Graham Wooten never forgot it.

It all started in Hickory.

UMO had a weekend game at Lenoir-Rhyne.

Wooten had just turned 21 and decided to celebrate with teammates Blake Montgomery and Donald Huff at Hooters. They snuck out of the hotel and walked over to the restaurant.

Little did they know that the team would walk in a few minutes later.

Just before Wooten turned up his once-frosted mug to take a sip, he glanced over to see Lancaster looking at him.

"Naw, you didn't, did you?" Lancaster asked.

"Yeah, I did," Wooten said.

The group had just one pitcher on the table and Wooten tried to convince his coach that was all they were planning to drink that night.

Well, not quite.

"About that time, the big-boobied girl comes up and sits three pitchers right down in front of us," Wooten said as the crowd roared with laughter.

"All of three of y'all are done tomorrow," Lancaster said.

The Trojans had a difficult time putting away L-RC the next day. Lancaster called upon Huff to get loose in the bullpen. Mount Olive won.

But Wooten knew the real punishment was coming when the team got home.

"Boys, I hate to do this, but I've got to take you to Faison," Lancaster said.

They piled into the truck and were dropped off after what seemed like an eternity.

Graham and Huff started running at a good pace only to have Montgomery fall behind. They decided to slow down, but eventually started hoofing it again.

"CL would follow you on the way back from Faison," Wooten said. "He'd watch you run. He'd laugh at you, point at you."

Montgomery stopped running and began to walk.

Once he reached the truck, he tapped loudly on the hood and kept on walking.

Lancaster stepped on the gas and returned to campus.

Wooten, Huff and Montgomery were eventually picked up by a teammate.

"He's always been good to me, even when he didn't have to be," Wooten said. "Whenever I made mistakes, he always looked after me. He's a great coach, a great man. [He's had] an unbelievable career and is somebody I've always looked up to."

•

Rooster Narron and Lancaster showed up at the same game one afternoon.

When it ended, Lancaster abruptly ended the conversation to talk to a player who had been recruited by a rival school for most of the year. Lancaster walked back over to Narron about 30 minutes later.

"Carl, what did you say to him?" Narron asked.

"I told him he could to go to 'blank' and play, or come to Mount Olive and win," Lancaster said.

Narron paused a moment.

"I don't know if I remember that guy's name. I think he's sitting in here. His initials are Jackson Massey," Narron said.

Massey played on the Trojans' national championship team and is now the head varsity baseball coach at North Lenoir.

Narron wasn't done...yet.

He slowly made his way toward Lancaster, who leaned on the podium.

"When you retire, you still need support from people," Narron said. "I've got something here that will support you."

Narron presented Lancaster a miniature jockstrap.

•

John Wooten never wore a UMO uniform.

He starred at East Carolina University and ended his playing career with the Potomac Nationals -- the Single-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals.

Wooten's relationship with Lancaster began at his summer camps. He always reminded Wooten that if he needed to use the facilities or talk with the staff, he could come by at any time.

"That's a pretty neat perspective because I don't think there's a whole lot of people that would say that to somebody who didn't go to their school," Wooten said.

Next, a non-baseball story.

Wooten pointed to his gaudy, red drum shirt.

"I scored this shirt when I was about 13 years old," Wooten said.

He turned toward the crowd.

"It was his," he said.

Though Wooten never fully explained how he obtained the shirt, he told a rib-tickling story.

He, Lancaster's youngest son Nolan, Mr. Jimmy Lovett and coach decided to go fishing at Core Banks. They all had a great time and reeled in a few fish.

The seasoned fisherman is well aware that Core Banks is known for its washouts that leave large holes. The group was riding in Princess Leanna. CL drove. Mr. Jimmy sat in the shotgun seat. Nolan and Wooten sat on the tailgate and dragged their feet in the sand.

Coach looked toward his left.

"Lookee there boys!" he exclaimed.

"I turned to my left and all I saw was legs and blonde hair holding a fishing rod in the water," Wooten said. "About that time, we found one of those washouts -- a two- or three-foot hole. We hit it running wide open. Nolan got hurt, but he's a tough kid and was OK."

Wooten thanked Lancaster's family for their friendship and hospitality over the years.

And Lancaster probably doesn't mind that the shirt never reappeared in his closet.

•

Did you hear about the heckler outside the Southern Wayne dugout?

Whitfield undoubtedly remembers.

The red-headed kid laid into the Saints while they were playing Eastern Wayne.

"Words I can't even repeat," Whitfield said. "I said 'kid, I don't know where you came from or who you are, but you need to move on."

The kid's identity remains unknown to this day.

Lancaster chuckled and insisted it wasn't intentional.

•

A large group of alumni camped out in the far corner of the banquet room.

Johnny Jones stood up and took the mike that been passed around from reveler to reveler.

Recruited by the 'other' school mentioned earlier by Narron, Jones was undecided about where he wanted to play until he received a phone call from Lancaster.

It provided a little motivation.

Lancaster dared Jones that he couldn't hit $1.50.

"I proved you wrong, didn't I old man? The truth is I couldn't hit anything," Jones quipped as Lancaster laughed.

Actually, Jones helped lead the Trojans to the NAIA World Series in 1992.

He, too, experienced that trepidation which is part of Trojan lore.

"I may or may not have been drinking," Jones said. "It's actually 6.8 miles. We run all the way back from Faison. I get kicked out of my apartment. CL calls me and I'm thinking my baseball career is done."

Jones heads to Lancaster's office.

"I'm sitting there and he's looking down," Jones said. "I'm waiting for him to say something. Finally, he says 'what do you want to do? Why are you here?'"

"To play baseball," Jones said.

"Naw, you're not," Lancaster fired back.

Jones admitted he wanted to be a game warden.

"While you're here, why don't you get your degree and make the best of the four years that you're here," Lancaster said.

Jones graduated in four years.

"I got the job I wanted because he's that father figure who motivated us to get that degree as young men. That's the kind of character he has," Jones said. "Coach, he's like your dad away from home. He's the one that has to keep your morals in line, your character...keep you on track."

•

A walk from the bullpen to the mound.

Not a jog from the dugout to center field.

Lancaster and Gary Ream crossed paths long before he ever put on an EW uniform. As a middle schooler, Ream used to play ball alongside the high school team during practice. Little did he know, Lancaster already had a plan in place.

Reams begins his freshman season.

"Coach, I want to play center field," Ream said.

"You ain't playing center field," Lancaster said.

"But, coach I want to play center field," Ream begged.

"You ain't playing center field. You need to get up there on that mound. You're going to pitch," Lancaster said.

"I said 'OK, but can I still play center field?'" Ream asked again.

"We'll talk about that later, but right now you're going to pitch," Lancaster said.

Ream never shagged a fly ball in the outfield.

The late Ray Scarborough recruited Ream to play baseball at Mount Olive. Ream was eventually drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers, but his career was cut short by a torn rotator cuff injury.

When he returned home, Ream had nothing to fall back on. He decided to join the Army and after nearly three decades of service, he retired in 2015.

"I can't say enough about this man," said Ream as he pointed at Lancaster and choked back tears.

"All my values came from that man right there. Stick with it, never give up. I'm grateful for that."

Ream also recalled a visit to Lancaster's doghouse. He skipped a practice to attend a pizza party for volunteers who assisted with the Special Olympics. Lancaster got wind of Ream's whereabouts and told him he wouldn't play in the next game.

The next day, EW trailed early.

"It was about the third inning and we were losing," Ream said.

Lancaster walks over.

"You learn your lesson?" he asked.

"Yessir," Ream answered.

"Good, we're losing. Get out there in the ballgame. By the way, get over there and get loose because you're pitching."

•

The stories continued to flow.

More laughter followed.

One evening just wasn't enough to celebrate a brilliant career.

Lancaster took over at Mount Olive seven seasons after the program was resurrected in 1980. He had three players -- Erik Lovett, Carter Capps and Geno Escalante -- to earn national player-of-the-year recognition from different publications.

A total of 39 All-Americans played at Scarborough Field and 41 players were selected in the Major League Baseball Draft.

The Trojans claimed 15 Conference Carolinas regular-season and tournament championships, and appeared in 17 NCAA Regionals. Their last CWS trip was in 2011.

Lancaster logged his 1,000th win against Catawba on March 24, 2015.

"There's not a person in this room who hasn't made some kind of contribution to the baseball program wherever I've been and to my career whether it's been a player, somebody recruiting to help us get players or a sponsor/supporter," Lancaster said. "We've got so much to talk about. I'd like to sit down with every one of you, spend three or four hours or even half a day, but I can't do it.

"We have so many memories."

But no thought can be ever be more distinguishable than the tapestry, a creation of individual threads that will forever remain a part of his life, that Lancaster faithfully weaved and is now an immortal part of UMO history.