North baseball’s Gary follows in uncle’s historic footsteps
Before this season, no African-American high school head baseball coach had been hired in Lee County since the schools desegregated in 1969.
That changed when North Fort Myers hired Tavaris Gary, a former baseball star at the school, to assume the head coaching position. While there have been black assistants and head coaches at the junior varsity level, Gary will lead a varsity baseball program.
“Coming from this area growing up playing baseball, you don’t have many blacks playing and for me to continue on and take it to the college and pro level and come back to coach, I feel is an eye opener and a door opener,” Gary said.
To Gary it’s a big deal, especially coming from the Dunbar area where baseball has not been a high priority for black students playing sports.
“It gives kids that light to those interested in baseball knowing they can do this. They see me coaching. That’s never been done. So, they say ‘I know I can do it,'” Gary said.
Making history isn’t new in the Gary family. Tavaris’ uncle, Larry Gary, another North sports alum, became the first black head football coach in Lee County in 1994 when he was hired at Lehigh. He is now head coach at Cape Coral High.
Uncle Larry gave his nephew great advice.
“We talked about it after it was brought to my attention. He was happy about it and gave me some pointers about what to expect,” Tavaris said. “Other than that, he was excited. We’re doing big things in our family. That’s history.”
Current North principal Matt Mederios was principal at Cape Coral when Larry Gary was hired. Tavaris was working in the insurance field and wanted to get back to the game.
“I found out North needed a coach and I turned in my application, did my interviews and it went from there,” Gary said.
Mederios said Gary’s hiring is historic, but he ultimately was hired on the merits of his work.
“He’s a great fit for the job. He’s alumni, loves North Fort Myers and the community and he grew up here,” said Mederios. “With his background and having worked hard on his skills, he brings a lot to the table.”
Gary put his footprints on the program immediately. With a senior-laden squad, his Red Knights are in position to record their first winning season since 2006, beating tough programs such as Port Charlotte, Ida Baker and Fort Myers and nearly beating state-ranked Venice. With 10 seniors, his work has extended beyond baseball, teaching life skills as well as baseball skills. After all, some of them will go to colleges, others will enter the work force.
So why did it take so long? Especially with so many qualified African-Americans out there?
Tommy Watkins could have been the first, but chose to play and coach professionally. His father was a great assistant at Dunbar, which for decades employed black coaches in all sports when schools in Lee County were segregated.
When Tavaris started playing, his first coach was Joe Williams, another North grad who went on to play college ball at Bethune-Cookman and is now principal at J. Colin English Elementary School.
“He taught me the fundamentals of baseball. With that knowledge he had, he set a foundation for me,” Gary said. “There are only a handful of us, and I don’t know why it took so long, but I’m glad it happened and that it was me who stepped in and set the change.”
Gary played baseball at North and at Cumberland University before being drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2003 MLB Amateur Draft and played one season of minor league ball. He went on to coach in the Kansas City Royals organization.