Northside baseball and softball aim to further legacy of late Edward Dyson III on new Dyson Field

When you think of Northside High School, you think of Mr. Dyson.

That’s what current softball coach and 1998 graduate of Northside High School Travis Spell had to say about the late Edward Dyson III, a life-changing educator whose impact has been felt in life and death.

Northside recently had a ribbon cutting for Dyson Field, an all-turf complex for softball and baseball that includes a new concessions stand, press box, indoor batting facility, new dugouts and more.

Named to honor the late Dyson, who was an educator in Houston County for decades, the Eagles baseball and softball programs will look to carry on his legacy in these new facilities.

Spell had more personal experience with Dyson because he was still principal on Green St. during his high school tenure. Some of it was because of Spell getting into a little trouble, but looking back he had nothing but praise for the late educator.

“Being the principal, that’s hard to do. There’s a lot of things going on at the high school, but he just seemed to be very, very positive,” Spell said. “I’d say every interaction I had with him was a good and positive one, and I did get in trouble in high school, not a lot, but he would have some reasons to possibly get mad with me.”

“He was just a person that was very likable as far as being concerned about your education and wanting you to be a successful individual, and then just having pride in Northside High School,” Spell said. “You think of Northside High School, you think of Mr. Dyson. There’s no doubt of why we would name the fields over there Dyson Field. Keep him in remembrance of the folks that have grown up in this community and love Northside High School.”

Baseball coach Joey Walker, though he didn’t know it at the time, mentioned how Dyson transcended being a member of the faculty because of his big personality.

Walker graduated Northside in 2003 and only had Dyson as a principal for his freshman year, though his father was there while Dyson was a teacher and assistant principal in the 1970s.

“He was a huge deal…I didn’t know at the time when I was first coming in, because I was so new to high school, but the year after he left so much stuff changed because he was just such a dominant personality that the board kind of left him alone to run the school how he saw fit,” Walker said. “They let Dyson run it how he saw fit because he was Northside.”

Dyson’s first year at Northside was 1970 where he taught mathematics and coached football, basketball and track. He was even coach for the junior varsity cheerleaders at one point, too.

Throughout the 1970s he continued his education, eventually receiving his Masters of Education and Education Specialist degree before becoming principal of Northside in 1980.

During that time Dyson came to love the blue and orange, and that was clear to everyone around the school, even some 40 years later.

“I know that he was a guy that showed up every single day, and loved Northside, and that was real obvious to all students,” Walker said. “Even after he left he would still come in during Spirit Week and talk on the microphone on the intercom and try to get kids fired up for the Northside, Warner Robins series. So just having a guy that was here and that cared so much about the school, it made a huge impact on really everybody I felt like.”

Spell, who played football and baseball in high school, remembered seeing Dyson at just about every game to support the students.

“He was definitely somebody I’d always see at games and supported us athletically, but also in the classrooms as well. Wanting us to do the best we can and become productive citizens,” Spell said.

That kind of unwavering support, and sometimes tough disciplinarian actions, is what changed the lives of many students who walked through Northside’s halls.

Now that Spell and Walker have made their way through and back to the orange and blue, Dyson’s legacy is still felt as they take the reigns of their respective programs.

When they’re on Dyson Field, they’re working to further the legacy he built and instill it in the next generation of Eagles.

Though baseball hasn’t seen much success in recent years, Walker is pushing his kids over the hump in his third year with ideals that Dyson held: Faith and family.

“I think that Mr. Dyson was a man of faith, and he was a man of family, and he brought that to Northside,” Walker said. “That’s something that I hold really dear to my heart as well. So I try to love the guys, I try to pour into the guys. I try to teach them how to be competitive, we go through some adversity.”

“We can’t help where we come from, but we can help how hard we work,” he continued. “So we try to preach hard work, we try to preach perseverance, and chasing trying to be one percent better every day, trying to get the full benefit of everything that we do so that hopefully we can keep climbing this mountain and hopefully pretty soon we’ll crest the top of it.”

As for Spell, who is in his second year under the helm, he tries to live by example and make sure he and his team represent Northside well everywhere they go.

“I think just living by example of those things that he tried to instill in the students when he was principal here. Let everybody have pride in where you are at and be proud to be a Northside Eagle and always remember that,” Spell said. “When we moved away, I lived in Savannah, I lived in Rome, I still always would look and see how Northside was doing because I loved Northside…This was home and I loved it here.”

“I try and instill that in the girls, carry that away with them,” Spell continued. “No matter what goes on in their life, this high school is a big part of them and to represent our high school well. Whenever we leave here and we go play other places, if we stop on the road somewhere I tell them to act appropriate because they represent the people that are on their chest, which is Northside High School.”

Facilities are a big part of being able to field a competitive program. With these new investments from the community, the Eagles are hard at work making sure they represent Northside and the Dyson name well.