Some accomplishments deserve special recognition.

Great Fork Baptist Church pastor Donald Jones will take a moment during this morning’s service to honor Whaleyville native Doug Baggett for achieving his 500th career win as coach of the Tabb High School boys’ basketball team on Wednesday.

“He grew up in this church and in this community. His mother and father are still members,” Jones said. “I decided that our people would like to pay tribute to Douglas.”

Baggett deflected praise for his rare win total to his players.

“I’ve always had great kids, and I’ve been fortunate enough on a yearly basis to be very successful with this,” Baggett said. “All the credit goes to the kids. You know, I don’t play. All I do is coach.”

Nearly 62 years old now, Baggett took the job at Tabb when he was 32.

Among the great players he has coached was Terry Kirby, a two-sport star who went on to play basketball and football at the University of Virginia, sticking with football, which led to a 10-year career in the NFL.

Baggett also coached Chris Slade, another two-sport athlete, who went to U.Va. and had a 9-year career in the NFL, mostly with the New England Patriots.

Pastor Jones noted Baggett has had a profound impact on his players over the years and has even been like a father to some of them as he teaches more than just basketball skills.

“He tried to instill character traits — honor, integrity, discipline, goal-setting, those kinds of things,” Jones said.

Baggett was also a prolific winner in baseball while he coached at Tabb. Ultimately, he retired from those duties and continued on with basketball, finishing his baseball coaching career with 397 wins.

Family and former players were on hand for Baggett’s 500th basketball win on Wednesday, which came in the form of an 84-59 victory over visiting Jamestown High School.

Among the family members present were his brother, Dennis, who brought their parents, John and Ernestine Baggett.

“Wednesday just happened to be her birthday,” Dennis Baggett said. “It was her 83rd birthday in the same night that he got his 500th.”

Doug Baggett has also served as a teacher at Tabb, and Jones said, “Anything I can do to promote teachers and the contributions they make to our society and to the lives of our children I certainly want to do that.”

The morning service at Great Fork Baptist Church begins at 11 a.m.