By Steve Williams
They didn’t roll out the red carpet, but the Gibbs High School softball team wore “flash back” numerals on Dennis Ray Night. It was their way of recognizing the good old times.
The late Jerry Sharp, the Gibbs principal in the fall of 1980, offered Ray the head coach position of the school’s new softball program. And when he accepted it, that marked the beginning of the most successful sports program in the school’s history.
Younger folks in the Corryton area had probably never heard of Coach Ray until the word got around that he was going to be recognized last Monday prior to a home game at Gibbs against Powell.
Folks who came to that game witnessed two great coaches – Carol Zachary Mitchell and Dennis, her high school coach over 45 years ago. What an awesome reunion it was. Many cried and many cheered.
Dennis wasn’t any ole coach, and in 1981, he started the Gibbs softball program, which has become one of the winningest sports programs in the nation. He first coached the Eagles for seven seasons (1981-1987), beginning at the Ruritan Park, and came back for two more seasons (1992-93).
In his nine seasons, Coach Ray’s teams won nine district championships and nine region championships. His Eagles finished fourth in the state two times, third in the state three times and won the state championship four times.
Coach Ray’s win-loss record in those nine seasons was 235-21 for a winning percentage of .918.
Prior to the game last Monday, Coach Ray came onto the field and met up with Coach Mitchell and other former players of Ray came on to the field to reunite with their coach.
Dennis threw a ceremonial first pitch and later, when the game was getting ready to start, he went to a seat right behind the backstop with his granddaughter and great-granddaughter.
“This field has changed a lot,” he said.
Coach Ray was asked what it was like to meet up with Carol.
“It was awesome, it was awesome,” repeated Dennis, who had embraced Coach Mitchell out on the field.
“When I got out of coaching at Gibbs, she took over for me,” said Dennis, “and she kept the success very high. So I’m glad about that. I mean I’m still an Eagle. And even though I spent 13 years coaching at Webb, I’m still an Eagle.”
Coach Ray was also asked about his memories of Carol when he coached her.
“Carol could do it all,” said Dennis. “She was the best freshman that I have ever coached. I mean, she could run, she could throw. Of course, she was a good pitcher and could hit and bunt. She could do it all.
“She pretty much developed her abilities herself. She learned to pitch with her dad (Bob Zachary). The philosophies I had for being a softball player at Gibbs were about being competitive and reaching for high standards. I guess the only thing I really taught her is to reach and go for it and be competitive and want to win.”
Dennis coached volleyball for 13 years at Webb and softball for nine seasons. One of his volleyball teams was a state runner-up and one of his softball teams finished fourth at the state. He also spent several years officiating high school football.
Carol recalled that Ray not only served the program at Gibbs, but he also instilled in all of his players the fight and desire to be better and the work ethic and all those things that you can learn from your former coach.
“I remember he worked hard at learning the game and at that time we didn’t know much about fast pitch softball because we had all grown up playing slow pitch,” said Mitchell and so for him to be able to learn and then to teach us in a way where you win state championships almost immediately is incredible.
“He instilled a lot of the things that I use even today. It comes from what I learned from him.”
