GAINESVILLE - Gainesville athletics’ newest facility, being built at historic Ivey-Watson Field, will be named for its baseball program’s most accomplished coach.

In an unveiling and dedication ceremony to be held Feb. 16 prior to the Red Elephants’ 2:00 p.m. game against Loganville, GHS baseball’s state-of-the-art training and development venue will officially be named the Wayne Vickery Performance Center, and as its signage will reveal, affectionately called “The Vic.”

"Coach Vickery didn't just win games; he built men of character and a culture of winning that we still strive to uphold today," said Adam Lindsey, Gainesville High School athletic director. "Naming this facility 'The Vic' is a small token of our immense gratitude for everything he has given not just to this program, but Gainesville athletics and the Gainesville community as well."

For more than three decades Vickery, who also served as a football coach and athletic director during his career with Gainesville City Schools, built GHS into a perennial high school baseball powerhouse, and in doing so bolstered an already-positive perception of one of Red Elephant athletics’ most tradition-rich programs. He won 470 games, 11 region championships, took nine teams to the state semifinals, and won five state championships (1996, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2002). He was inducted into the Georgia Dugout Club Hall of Fame in 2010 and the Gainesville Athletics Hall of Fame in 2022.

The unveiling and dedication ceremony is open to fans, community members, and alumni alike; all are encouraged to attend.