Northwest Shoals Community College (NWSCC) received Alabama Community College System Board of Trustee approval last week to officially name the newly renovated baseball field for former NWSCC baseball coach Mark Lee who died in December  2021. The field will be named Mark Lee Legacy Field.

“I had the pleasure of meeting with Coach Lee’s family August 9 to share the exciting news with them,” said NWSCC President Dr. Jeff Goodwin. “It is obvious that Coach Lee left an amazing legacy through the lives he touched over the years.”

Lee served as the first head baseball coach for NWSCC on the Shoals campus beginning in 1993. NWSCC was formed in 1993 by the Alabama State Board of Education through the merger of Northwest Alabama Community College’s Phil Campbell Campus and Shoals Community College.

As head coach, Lee’s teams held a record of 239-69, a winning percentage of 77.6. They won four Alabama Community College Conference northern division championships.

Born in Montgomery, Lee was a 1977 graduate of Autauga County High School. He received his Bachelor of Arts in accounting from Troy University in 1982 where he played baseball. He graduated from the University of North Alabama in 1987 and 1988 with a Bachelor of Science in Physical Education and a Masters of Art in education.

Lee’s coaching career started in 1982 at Troy University as an assistant coach. He moved to UNA as an assistant coach from 1985-1988.

He served as head coach at Martin Methodist College from 1988-1992.

From 1993-1998, he worked as the NWSCC head coach. Lee continued serving the college as a physical education and health instructor from 1992-2017.

He also served as a baseball scout for the Toronto Blue Jays from 1988-1991 and for the New York Mets from 2014-2021.

The College will hold a field naming ceremony with the Lee family and many of his former players on Oct. 7.