Will Flowers has spent his whole life in Wilson and has made numerous contributions to the baseball community as a player and coach. He starred at Fike High School (’72 grad), where he played for Barton Hall of Famer Gilbert Ferrell. He then took his talents just up the street to Atlantic Christian, where he was a four-year starter at first base for John “Doc” Sanford (freshman season) and Larry Thompson. Flowers led the Carolinas Conference in fielding each of his final three seasons and was hailed by Thompson as “the best defensive player in Atlantic Christian history” in 1976.
He has been Fike’s head baseball coach for three decades and has been named the conference Coach of the Year eight times. Flowers was the Region 3 Coach of the Year in 1999, when he directed the Golden Demons to the Class 3A State Championship over previously unbeaten T.C. Roberson.
Flowers’ teams have captured six conference titles and have been to the N.C. High School State Athletic Association playoffs 13 times. Fike has been in the Elite Eight five times and the state semifinals three times under Flowers’ direction. The Demons enjoyed a record-setting season in 2001, when they went unbeaten (14-0) in the conference and finished 24-2 overall. Shortstop-pitcher Brock Godwin played on that 2001 squad and then took his skills to Barton, where he was an All-American.
Flowers has also spent much of his Fike career roaming the football sidelines as freshman coach (four years), head junior varsity coach (1985-91) and varsity assistant (1988-98). He was also varsity offensive coordinator and quarterback coach from 1988-92, when the Demons were led by record-setting quarterback Michael Dunn, son of Barton Hall of Famer Bobby Dunn (’60).
One could say Flowers had little chance of not becoming a successful coach since he played for the likes of coaching greats Ferrell (’54), James “Rabbit” Fulghum (’61), Alton Britt and Sanford.
Flowers said he learned a lot from Coach Ferrell at Fike, when he finally started at first base his senior season. Flowers, a self-described “average hitter who brought defense to the table,” said he was inspired by comments made by Wilson Daily Times Sports Editor Tom Ham and sportswriter Russell Rawlings in the newspaper. “I was just going to do everything in my power not to let anything get by me.”
After graduating from high school, Flowers got the opportunity to play for Rabbit Fulgham on the Wilson Post 13 American Legion team that summer. Flowers ended up in Salemsburg, N.C., after high school at Southwood College, a two-year school, but Southwood closed for financial reasons just before Christmas break.
Flowers won the first Golden Glove award presented at the Post 13 banquet in the early ‘70s and Sanford has told him, “I would like for you to come to AC if you want to.”
When Flowers transferred at mid-year, his first physical education class was with Sanford, who stopped when he saw the Flowers’ name on the roll, pulled off his glasses and said: “I knew you would come.” The rest, as they say, is history.
