from Western Guilford High School on Facebook:
Congratulations to Coach Chris Causey on having the Western Guilford Baseball field named in his honor! We will have a ceremony to honor Coach Causey and his accomplishments at Western Guilford early in the season next year(Spring 2024)! Stay tuned for a date!
Guilford County Schools
The district has announced a name change for the Western Guilford High School baseball field. It will now be called The Chris Causey Field in honor of Christopher Causey. A graduate from Western in 1987, he worked as a teacher, coach and Athletic Director until his retirement in 2022, leading the baseball team to 359 wins.
Chris Causey dedicated over 30 years to Western Guilford High School as a student, athlete, teacher, head / assistant football coach, head / assistant baseball coach, and Director of Athletics before retiring in early 2022. He was a long-time teacher in the social studies department at Western Guilford High School, coaching both football and baseball in assistant and head coaching positions for over 20 years during this time. He served as the head baseball coach for 21 years followed by a 6 ½ tenure at the athletic director. During this time, he influenced thousands of Western Guilford High School students in one (or several) of these capacities. He was not only concerned with teaching and coaching these students, but developing them into young people of high character ready to leave high school and become successful adults.
1987 Western Guilford High School graduate
2 time all-conference, 2 time all-area player in baseball as a student
Teacher at Western Guilford High School – 1993 to 2022
Head Football coach at Western Guilford High School – 2002 to 2014
Head Baseball coach at Western Guilford High School – 1995 to 2015 with 359 wins, 11 conference championships, 4 conference tournament championships, 16 playoff berths, 32 playoff game victories, regional team finalist for 4 years, state team runner-up 1 year, resulting in an average of 17 wins per year over his head coaching career.
Recipient of Conference Coach of the Year Baseball Awards – multiple years
Recipient of WGHS Bill Hollifield Loyalty Award for teachers who exceed expectations, continually putting the needs of students first – 2017
Chris Causey has been a positive role model for others in numerous ways. He exhibits positive behavior and demonstrates impeccable character for adolescent students and athletes to emulate. He always stressed to players and parents that building “men of character” was the primary goal of his athletic programs – even above winning. As one athletic baseball parent has said, “Coach Causey provided my son with an experience and taught him lessons that can never be replaced. My son learned not only about baseball and becoming a better athlete – but about life. Coach Causey demonstrated to his players how to be a gracious and respectful winner, but also how to appropriately accept defeat even when it is painful and it hurts. Chris Causey played a significant part of molding my son into the successful adult that he is today, and I can never thank him enough for the positive influence that he had upon him.”
Chris Causey continually exhibits values like honesty, integrity, respect, sense of fairness, concern for others, self-discipline, teamwork, and dedication to work. He demonstrated his sense of honesty and integrity constantly as a coach and also had a strong sense of fairness. He also has exhibited values such as concern for others, self discipline, teamwork and dedication to work. According to Western Guilford High School and Guilford College athlete Macon Smith, “Coach Causey transcended the ordinary meaning of what we traditionally believe a Coach to be, extending his leadership and mentorship far beyond the field; he has been one of the greatest examples in my life of a person who gives more of himself than he ever expects to receive in return, who earnestly strives to impact lives in a meaningful way, and who loves his family with fierceness and integrity. He is one of few people I would list as being the most influential in my life through the humility and strength with which he approaches every facet of his life. There is no person I’ve known more deserving of every honor that could be bestowed upon them than Coach Causey.”
During baseball and football season, it was not uncommon to see his vehicle parked at Western Guilford High School early in the morning or late at night. He was truly dedicated to Western Guilford High School and his students and athletes. His players knew that he cared not only about them as players, but as young men. Former player Keith Anderson said, “ Coach Causey was more than a coach to all his players. At the time I didn’t realize it, but he was shaping all of us not to just be good ball players but to be great men. There is no one else who deserves the field to be named after them more than Coach Causey.”
There is absolutely no doubt that Chris Causey has shown a commitment to excellence during the years that he served at Western Guilford High School. Along with being an outstanding Social Studies teacher, he consistently fielded competitive teams in several challenging athletic conferences. He set high standards for his athletes, not only as athletes but as human beings, and his players knew of his high expectations. Under Coach Causey, players worked hard on the field, but they have become better people under his leadership. According to player Mark Parsells, “Coach Causey was a great leader for us both on and off the field. He not only wanted us to succeed athletically, but also in the classroom.” Former player Adam Foster says that “Coach Causey embodies everything that a young man should look up to and served as a phenomenal role model to me and my fellow classmates throughout my time at Western.”