A ceremony was held on Saturday, May 14, 2022, at the Clifton Baseball/Softball complex to honor the late Taylor L. Harris for all his work and dedication to the organization over the past years. A maple tree with a plaque was placed on the outside edge of the parking lot to memorialize Taylor. His tree stands in line with ones previously placed there in memory of Jason Camfield and Lindsay Mathis Pope, both of whom also passed away while working as volunteers with the Dixie Youth organization.
Taylor began his volunteer work with the Waynesboro Jaycees in the early 1970s, being instrumental in the building of the first picnic pavilion at the Waynesboro City Park. He became involved in the Dixie Youth organization as a board member in 1986, and later served the league as President. He was a director, sponsor, and coach for the program, and worked tirelessly to see that a second ballfield, known as “Volunteer Field,” was completed at the Waynesboro City Park. That field is now the site of Stage 64.
Taylor and the league brought the first Dixie State Tourney to Waynesboro in 1997 with the Dixie Debs 16-19 age group, the group that he was coaching at the time. His business, Taylor Harris Telecom, sponsored the THT baseball team from 1990 until Taylor’s retirement in 2015. He began his Dixie Youth career outside of Waynesboro as Dixie Boys’ Baseball District Director and served for eight years before switching to Assistant Dixie Youth Director in 2010. Taylor was still serving in that role when he passed away in 2021 from COVID.
