Former Hunt High and East Carolina star outfielder Bryson Worrell will make his debut at the North Carolina Baseball Museum’s Celebrity Golf Tournament on Wednesday, April 29, at Wedgewood Public Golf Course.
Worrell, who reached the Double-A level in the Atlanta Braves minor league system, will captain a team in the tournament, which serves as one of two annual fundraisers for the N.C. Baseball Museum that opened inside Fleming Stadium in 2004. Nearly three dozen celebrities of the local, state and national variety will invade Wedgewood, one of just two remaining golf courses in Wilson County.
Last year’s Celebrity Golf Tournament ended up in September after rain and the closure of Wedgewood to redo its greens forced it from its traditional mid-May spot on the calendar. With hot weather a concern for some of the older participants, Celebrity Golf Tournament founder and director Kent Montgomery said the decision was made to move the event up with a rain date of May 13.
Unfortunately both of thoses dates clashed with afternoon home games for the Wilson Warbirds, the rebranded Single-A Carolina League franchise that just started playing at Wilson Ballpark downtown. So none of the team’s front office personnel will be at the 24th Celebrity Golf Tournament.
Three former major leaguers — Mike Caldwell, John Donaldson and John Roper — are among the celebrities who are expected to attend. The list also includes former Carolina Hurricanes broadcaster Chuck Caiton and retired MLB scout Howard McCullough as well as former North Carolina State University athletes Alex Cheek, Rick Richardson, Francis Combs, Lynn Daniell and Bob Hounsell.
Barton men’s and women’s basketball coaches Joel Zimmerman and Eileen Van Horn, respectively, and retired Bulldogs basketball coach Ron Lievense will be on hand along with 98-year-old former Fike High, East Carolina and N.C. State football coach Henry Trevathan and his son, Henry Trevathan Jr., who recently retired as a Wolfpack staff member.
Don Fish, the retired executive director of North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame, returns as does former Duke University point guard and 1965 Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year Steve Vacendak. Retired Cleveland High baseball coach Jamie Lee and retired West Craven football coach Clay Jordan will make the return trip to Wedgewood as well.
Esteemed former baseball coach George Whitfield returns after missing last September’s outing while Raleigh sports radio personality and former sports writer Joe Giglio had so much fun last year that he’s coming back for more.
The list of local celebrities includes Ray Barger, Allen Corbett, Michael Dunn, Gary Farmer, Larry Fulghum, Brock Godwin, Lewis Godwin, Eddie Gwaltney, Kevin Lamm, John McNeil, Robert Wells and Russell Williamson.
Lunch provided by Parker’s Barbecue will precede the introduction of celebrities by the Wedgewood clubhouse with the captain’s choice superball tournament lifting off with a shotgun start at approximately 1 p.m. Before that will be the $1,000 winner-take-all ball drop raffle in which balls are purchased and dropped from bucket truck’s lift onto the Wedgewood driving range by a pre-determined target.
Worrell, a 2017 Hunt High graduate, hit .299 with 40 home runs and 138 RBIs in 223 games over seasons at ECU, where he twice earned All-American Athletic Conference honors. He signed a free agent deal with the Atlanta Braves and played three full seasons at every level in their farm system, including with the Triple-A Gwinnett Stripers.
The four main sponsors of the 24th Celebrity Golf Tournament are Baker’s Pro Construction, First Bank and Trust, Southern Bank and Wilson Housing Authority.