[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ fullwidth=”off” specialty=”off” next_background_color=”#000000″][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_video _builder_version=”3.20.1″ src=”https:\/\/youtu.be\/h-SpixMzmD8″ \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.19.17″ custom_padding=”2px|0px|37.9062px|0px” prev_background_color=”#000000″][et_pb_row custom_padding=”0px|0px|18.9531px|0px” custom_margin=”10px|||” _builder_version=”3.19.17″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”News Story” _builder_version=”3.20.1″ custom_margin=”0px||0px|”]<\/p>\n
For over 30 \u00a0years,\u00a0Lexington High School\u2019s boy\u2019s basketball team has been under the leadership of Coach Bailey Harris. After winning two state championships and going undefeated this season, Harris said it is time to step away\u00a0from the sidelines.<\/p>\n
On his 56th<\/sup> birthday, instead of the team\u2019s routine post-practice wrap-up, Harris announced that he was stepping down at the end of the season.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a lot that goes into it,” Harris said. “I think a lot of people look at it, see the [undefeated] record we have and the success, (and they say) ‘I think he’s just trying to go out with this [state championship].”<\/p>\n During his 32 years at Lexington, Harris has won over 600 games, including 13 region titles. He made it to the state semifinals 10 times and made it the state championships on six occasions. The Wildcats won the state title in 1996 and 2000.<\/p>\n In 2013, Harris was inducted into the S.C. Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame and the S.C. Track and Cross Country Coaches Association in 2014. The Wildcats won consecutive state cross country championships from 2010-2013. Harris will continue working as the head coach of the boys cross country team and continue to teach history at Lexington.<\/p>\n To Harris, his achievements aren\u2019t the most important part of his job, but rather, the community that has supported him for all these years.<\/p>\n \u201cI hadn\u2019t done this by myself by any stretch. My wife and my family have been very supportive and I just like to make sure that I thank all those people for their support and their role,\u201d Harris said.<\/p>\n “At one point it’s sad, but [you] got to be happy for him going off on the right foot. We love him… Lexington loves him and has so \u00a0much respect for him,” Dane Szalwinski said<\/span>, a former Lexington cross country runner.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Lexington High was undefeated this season and had hoped to finish out the season with a state championship in honor of Harris. The dream was cut short as the team fell to the Berkeley Stags 47-42 in the Lower State championship game.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m going to miss everything about it,” Harris said, and there isn’t a single thing, other than doing the paperwork for eligibility and when it\u2019s time to cut kids and tell them they can\u2019t be on the team. But, that\u2019s probably the only drawback. I love everything about the job.\u201d<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Lexington High School bids farewell to its longtime basketball coach. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":155,"featured_media":19564,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":" For over thirty years, Lexington High School\u2019s boy\u2019s basketball team has been under the leadership of Coach Bailey Harris. Two state championships later, Harris is done coaching from the sidelines.<\/p> On his 56th<\/sup> birthday, instead of the team\u2019s routine post-practice wrap-up, Harris announced to the team that he was stepping down at the end of the season.<\/p> \u201cIt was a lot that goes into it\u2026 I sat down with my family really before the season started and I think a lot of people look at it, see that the record we have and the success\u2026 I think he\u2019s just trying to go out with this [state championship].\u201d<\/p> During his thirty-two years at Lexington, Harris has won over 600 games, including: 13 region titles, made it to the state semifinals 10 times and made it the state championships on six occasions. The Wildcats won the state title in 1996 and 2000.<\/p> In 2013, Harris was inducted into the S.C. Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame and the S.C. Track and Cross Country Coaches Association in 2014. The Wildcats won consecutive state cross country championships from 2010-2013.<\/p> To Harris, his achievements aren\u2019t the most important part of his job, but rather, the community that has supported him for all these years.<\/p> \u201cI hadn\u2019t done this by myself by any stretch\u2026my wife and my family have been very supportive and I just like to make sure that I thank all those people for their support and their role\u2026\u201d said Harris.<\/p> This season was one to remember for Lexington as they went undefeated with hopes to finish out the season with the state championship trophy high in honor of Harris.<\/p> Unfortunately, the dream was cut short as the team fell to the Berkeley Stags 47-42 in the Lower State championship game.<\/p> The basketball season may be over and Harris\u2019 time with the team is done on an official level, but there is nothing that stands out when asked what he\u2019ll miss the most.<\/p> \u201cI\u2019m going to miss everything about it\u2026and there isn\u2019t a single thing, other than doing the paperwork for eligibility and when it\u2019s time to cut kids and tell them they can\u2019t be on the team. But, that\u2019s probably the only drawback\u2026 I love everything about the job.\u201d<\/p> Harris will continue working as the head coach of the boys cross country team and continue to teach history at Lexington.<\/p>","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[39,68],"tags":[591,590,172],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17957"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/155"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17957"}],"version-history":[{"count":28,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17957\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21591,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17957\/revisions\/21591"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}