Rose basketball highlights
FRI.| 4-12-24 | ENTERTAINMENT
Mon.| 4-15-24 | SPORTS
Coaching is a vital part of success in a sport. Whether through making adjustments to help your team perform better in big scenarios, or making strong bonds with players that will last a lifetime, being a coach is a title that holds a lot of value for those involved in sports.
Ronald Vincent is no short of what a legendary coach would be described as. By leading the Rampants to success on the baseball field through his long tenure, he has earned the recognition of being inducted into the National High School Hall of Fame for the class of 2024.
From playing at a young age, all the way up to becoming a full-time high school baseball coach, Vincent has always been familiar with baseball. He began his coaching career by coaching Little League when he was around 18 years old, however, he did not begin his coaching at Rose until the fall of 1973.
“I was coaching in Farmville, and in the summer [of 1973], the baseball coach at Rose had left, and I was contacted by the superintendent who asked if I wanted to come over to Rose High and coach,” Vincent said.
Photo by Seth Bright
Before the game, baseball coach Ronald Vincent prepared for
the game. They watch as the starting lineup is announced.
Transitioning to Rose was a bit challenging for Vincent. However, he was quickly able to make his presence known as a coach by shifting players’ mindsets to learn from their mistakes and improve on them, ultimately leading to early success.
“The first year I came here we had a lot of good people, but they were kind of behind,” Vincent said. “We won the state championship in my second year, and a lot of those guys were guys I had coached in little league, so they knew what to expect.”
Maintaining success in any sport is not easy, especially when the game is always evolving and coaches have to find a way to quickly adapt. However, after his early success at Rose, Vincent wanted to continue to find a way to be successful over time, and continue to have Rose as an elite high school baseball program in North Carolina.
“It’s really a difficult thing to repeat…some people think it’s really easy to do when it’s not, you really have to make guys focus and stay focused,” Vincent said. “We have had some really good teams that have not won the state championships, so it really goes both ways.”
Throughout his 50 years of coaching at Rose, Vincent has brought home a total of 7 state titles, the most recent one being in 2021, and even going back to back in 2003 and 2004. As he has been the coach for such a long time, this has allowed Vincent to build numerous relationships with players, coaches, fans, peers, etc. This has ultimately made him a household name in North Carolina high school sports.
With the legacy and the memories he has built at Rose and with his players, Vincent has been selected for the National High School Hall of Fame, and will be honored this upcoming summer. With all of the success he has had, this is a prestigious honor, as only a certain number of coaches are selected each year to be inducted.
“I didn’t know anything about it, this guy from Indianapolis called me about it and said what it was,” Vincent said. “It’s a national award…there were only 4 of us in the country that gets this per year…like I said it’s a national thing that covers all 50 states so it’s a big deal.”
Even though this is a big deal for him, Vincent does not want to let this get in the way of the teams success this season, and wants to prepare his players to play for another state championship. However, he hopes to continue to build on his legacy even after achieving this honor and will work to see more success in the future.
