The Big 5-0: Hurley Raynor to retire after a half-century of coaching youth baseball
The beautiful home of Hurley and Laura Raynor in Raleigh, NC speaks to the life the two have shared for 52 years. The yard is a plush as they come. There is antique furniture. There is even a jukebox (that still works) that has been in the house for 35 years.
Some of the coolest items are team baseball photos, signed baseballs, an autograph from the great National Baseball Hall of Famer Jim “Catfish” Hunter, who Hurley was a big fan of, 50 years of baseball rosters, newspaper articles, drawings, and paintings from a 50-year career coaching the youth of Raleigh in baseball, 39 of those years spent coaching at the Salvation Army of Wake County Red Shield Club of Raleigh. So, when the games commence on April 4, 2023, it will be the beginning of the last year of Hurley as a head coach in youth baseball.
“I’ve had my time, now it’s their [coaches] turn,” said Hurley when asked would he consider coming back at anytime to coach fulltime again. “I don’t think it will be the end because I will continue to volunteer, whether it will be concessions, or… I will be available.”
According to Hurley, he has coached a lot of great baseball players and athletes. Take Webb Simpson for instance. Simpson, as Hurley recalls, was a good baseball player. But as it turned out, Simpson was a better golfer and went on to Wake Forest University, before becoming a pro golfer in 2008 where he has won seven PGA tournaments, including the U.S. Open in 2012. He has coached for so long that he has coached the sons of some of his former players. He has coached four players that have gone on to play college baseball and numerous players that played in high school, including four who were on Broughton High School state championship teams.
So, when the last day of baseball at The Salvation Army comes in May, Hurley will miss the boys, the team concept, the assistant coaches, the comradery. But it is well-known what he has meant to so many throughout Raleigh and Wake County for 50 years.
“It will be a say day,” Hurley said. “But I have never in my lifetime had an accomplishment that I treasure more than being able to coach young people.”
A love for the game
Hurley was born March 21, 1948, and grew up in Four Oaks in Johnston County where he fell in love with the game of baseball. He moved to Raleigh in the third grade and continued playing baseball throughout his youth. He played while at Broughton High School. He loved the game and loved the stars of Major League baseball at the time, with his two favorite teams being the Yankees and the Cubs.
His love for the game led to coaching. While he enjoyed the competition, he wanted to make sure that every child shared the same experience. His goal was to make sure each child bats twice in a game. For him, it was all about the children.
In the beginning…
Hurley started as a coach in the Kiwanis league in 1973. While a member of his softball team at church, one of his friends, Matt Boxley, asked him to be an assistant coach on his youth baseball team at Kiwanis. Having just gotten married two years prior, he knew he wanted to be involved in the community. He had planned to coach for just that one year, but his love for coaching youth (9–12-year-olds) kicked in pretty quickly.
“I liked so many of my nine and 10-year-olds, that I just didn’t want to leave so I coached the next year,” Hurley recalls. “I kept adding nine-year-olds because I knew I could keep them for four years.”
Hurley coached with Kiwanis until 1984, when his son, Hurley, Jr., turned nine. He coached Hurley, Jr. for one year, then decided to become a coach at The Salvation Army in the spring of 1985. Over the years, he’s missed a few practices, games, and team pictures, having to travel so much, being in the medical imaging business.
“That’s one of the things that I hated the most was missing team pictures,” he said.
A lifetime of baseball accomplishments
There are two moments that quickly come to mind for Hurley win asking him about moments of which he is most proud. One is winning the city championship in 1976 against Raleigh Rescue Mission who hadn’t lost a game in two years. One of the players on the Raleigh Rescue Mission team: Nate McMillan, who went on to star at NC State under Jim Valvano in the mid ‘80’s, was a first-round draft choice of the then Seattle Supersonics, and most recently was the head coach of the Atlanta Hawks.
“We did it with a group of kids that just… Cinderellas? Yeah, I watch the (NCAA Men’s) tournament. I’ve always pulled for Cinderellas. I’m doing it right now with FAU,” Hurley says referring to Florida Atlantic University being a lower seed and making it all the way to the Final Four.
During his time in the Kiwanis league, the team to beat was a team sponsored by Modern Oil, who ironically was led by a coach, like Hurley, who at that point had coached a long time. Two twins had come through the league named Mark and Martha Foster, both good athletes. Mark went early in the draft that year. Hurley ended up selecting Martha. The two teams met at the end of the season to see who would move on to the city tournament. Martha ended up hitting a ball out of the park that won that game for Hurley’s team.
“I will never forget it as long as I live,” said Hurley. “That was the first girl I ever coached and let me tell you something, there wasn’t a boy down there that was much better.”
Winding down
In 2008, The Salvation Army of Wake County Red Shield Club of Raleigh held a ceremony, dedicating its baseball field to Hurley. By that time, he was coaching his 24th season at TSA. He is no doubt a living legend, also having a scholarship in his name, dedicated to assisting youth who don’t have the means to pay to play baseball at the Red Shield Club. He is not eager for this 39th season at the Red Shield Club to end, but he is looking forward to the journey.
As the conversation winds down, Hurley shows the photos of past teams, including the team photo with Simpson. He shows off the plaque that was awarded to him as the North Carolina State Amateur Coach of the Year in 1976, that was presented to him by Hunter. There are so many photos and trophies and baseballs and plaques and awards that he could open a small museum.
“It’s been a pleasure to be able to do it,” he said. “It’s a gift that the good Lord gave me, and I have used it and I feel very comfortable that I have used it to the very best of my ability.”
The very best.