Wayland High School’s new varsity baseball coach is no stranger, of course, to baseball, but he’s no stranger to Wayland, either.

Though he grew up in Carson City, Travis Wilcox is the son of former Wildcat baseball player Tom Wilcox and the grandson of longtime local residents Gale and Roberta Wilcox. Father Tom was a member of the 1971 Wayland High School baseball team that went all the way to the state Class B semifinals before losing to eventual champion Detroit Lutheran West, 3-0.

Travis Wilcox was assistant varsity coach here for the past two seasons to Mike Doupe, who is stepping down because this fall he will take over as head varsity football coach. The Wildcat baseball team they coached a year ago won a Division 2 district title.

Travis Wilcox is attending Western Michigan University and majoring in secondary education. He was assistant baseball coach to Tom Wilcox for summer baseball programs at Carson City Crystal.

Tom Wilcox posted on Facebook, “He (Travis) has had a passion and love for coaching since he was a teenager… It started with Travis assisting me and quickly changed to me assisting Travis.

”While going to CMU, Travis had a dream job working for the Detroit Tigers in their clubhouse and gave it up to accept his first varsity coaching job here at CC-C. His friends thought he was nuts, but it was an indication of his desire to coach.”

Tom Wilcox, a 1971 graduate of Wayland High School, lives in Carson City with his wife, Marilyn. He recently was honored for serving for 16 years on the Carson City Crystal Board of Education.

PHOTO: New varsity baseball coach Travis Wilcox is flanked by grandparents Gale and Roberta Wilcox. (Photo supplied)