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Local
Baseball Field Renamed For Retired Educator
Best secured more than 10 baseball scholarships for his players.
During his career, Best served as an Assistant Prin- cipal at Greco Middle School and Chamberlain High School. He was promoted to
Principal and re-assigned to Middleton Junior High School. He remained there as the school made its tran- sition from Middleton Jun- ior High School to Middleton Middle School of Technol- ogy. In 1996, he became the
Principal at Blake High School. He retired from D. W. Waters Career Center in 2003.
Best was inducted into the Florida A & M University Sports Hall of Fame on Sep- tember 14, 2007.
On the left, David Best is shown as a principal in the Hillsbor- ough County School District. The photograph on the right depicts him as a member of the Cincinnati Reds Baseball Team.
BY IRIS B. HOLTON Sentinel City Editor
The Hillsborough County School District board mem- bers unanimously voted to name a high school baseball field after a retired educator. The dedication ceremony to change the name of the Mid- dleton High School Baseball Field to the David Best Base- ball Field will take place on March 24th, at 6 p.m. The ceremony will take place be- fore the Middleton-Blake game.
In addition to his dedica- tion as an educator, Best was a member of the Los An- geles Angels and Cincinnati Reds professional baseball teams for five seasons. He ended his baseball career with the Tampa Tarpons of the Florida State League.
When contacted by the Sentinel, Best said, “I feel this is a tremendous honor having the field named in my honor. Going back to the age of 5 or 6, I played baseball and the sport defined my en- tire life.
“I treasure the time I spent coaching at Robinson High School and I had the opportunity to help Coach Billy Reed at the Belmont
Heights Little League during their famous period.”
A Tampa native, Best graduated from Middleton High School in 1958. He was awarded a full baseball scholarship to Florida A & M University.
Best earned his Bache- lor’s Degree from FAMU and later continued his education at Nova University, where he earned his Master’s Degree in Administration and Su- pervision.
After three years at FAMU, Best signed a bonus contract with the Los Ange- les Angels, becoming the first Middleton High School graduate to play professional baseball.
Returning to Tampa and joining the Hillsborough County School District, Best served as the Head Baseball Coach at Middleton High School from 1968 until de- segregation closed the school in 1971.
During his tenure as the head coach, he led the team to several district and city championships. In the 1970- 1971 season, the team won the regional championship status and competed in the state tournament in 1971.
In his role as head coach,
Meetings
Howard W. Blake Class Of 1967
The Howard W. Blake High School Class of 1967 will have its monthly meeting on Saturday, March 5th, 11 a. m., at the home of King Davenport, 4604 Riverhills Dr., Temple Terrace (33617), 813-965-6861.
For more information: Gwen Andrews (813) 248-1071, Rosita W. Baker (813) 621-1027, Sandra H. Davis (813) 989- 3198 or John A. Bowden (813) 600-8859.
Meeting Of All Middleton Classes
There will be a meeting of all Middleton graduating classes on Saturday, March 5th at 11 a. m., in the Middleton auditorium. The Athletic Director, Mr. Maddox wants to meet with everyone. The discussion will center around the Booster Club and other topics.
FRIDAY, MARCH 4, 2016 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY PAGE 7-A