Woodington baseball field named for long-time coach
Dedicating the baseball field at Woodington Middle School as the Perry M. Lychak Field, honoring a long-time teacher and coach who died in 2023, were, from left, LCPS Superintendent Brent Williams, Assistant Superintendent Nicholas Harvey II, Woodington Principal Patrick Phillippe, Lychak’s sister Val Lychak, his nephew Tyler Lychak, Woodington Assistant Athletic Director Shannon Jones, Lenoir County Board of Education member Michelle Cash and Woodington Athletic Director Ben Daniels.
Perry Lychak came from Canada to Kinston to play baseball and stayed on to become a teacher and coach and become beloved. Woodington Middle School has acknowledged that mutual affection by dedicating its baseball field as a memorial to the pitcher who found home here.
“We are very honored to have been a part of Perry’s life and the many adventures he took us on,” Woodington principal Patrick Phillippe said at the April 11 field dedication ceremony, held in the school’s media center because of inclement weather. In attendance were Lychak’s sister Val and nephew Tyler, as well as LCPS and school representatives, members of the Woodington baseball team and former players and their families.
Lychak coached baseball and football at Woodington from 1986 to 2010. His baseball teams won four conference championships and one co-championship. His football teams won three conference championships. He also coached American Legion baseball in Lenoir County for several years. Lychak died in 2023 at age 65.
“Coach Lychak’s primary love of coaching was baseball, but it did not matter what he was asked to do. He gave it 100 percent,” said Phillippe, who coached and taught alongside Lychak as a member of Woodington’s faculty.
The spotlight fell on Lychak after he pitched a three-hitter to lead the Canadian national team to a win over the team from Cuba at the 1981 International Cup in Lychak’s hometown of Edmonton. The first loss for the Cubans in international competition in five years, the game was hailed at the time as Canada’s greatest baseball victory.
At age 23, Lychak was offered a contract with the Toronto Blue Jays and, after graduating from Indiana State University, reported to the Class A Kinston Blue Jays of the Carolina League for the 1982 season. In his four years with the Kinston team, the left-hander appeared in 190 games as a starter, reliever and closer. In 1985, his final year, Lychak compiled a 4-2 record with a 1.75 ERA.
At the dedication ceremony, Val Lychak thanked the school, the school district and elected officials who cleared the way for the school field’s naming for “ensuring Perry’s memory lives on forever.”
“You were all Perry’s family here in North Carolina,” Val Lychak said, “and you are now our family.”
A plaque in the shape of home plate designating the Woodington field as the Perry M. Lychak Field will be installed on a pedestal already in place.
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