Baseball Community Reeling With The Passing Of Coach Cullen

Steve Cox
1/27/2025
FISHERSVILLE – The local baseball community is reeling after the sudden passing Saturday of veteran Wilson Memorial head coach Rodney Cullen.
Rodney Cullen was a fixture on the local baseball scene. Cullen was a baseball lifer.
Cullen had been at the helm of the Wilson program for 16 seasons. He played his high school baseball at Stuarts Draft High School and then worked as an assistant for the Cougars before taking over the program at Fishburne Military. He also coached basketball at Wilson. In the summers he had served as an assistant coach in the Valley Baseball League for the Waynesboro Generals.
Cullen coached at Wilson from 2005-07 and had been back with the Hornets since the 2012 season. He was 12 wins shy of winning 200 games as Wilson’s head coach with a 188-129 record. He led Wilson to the 2013 state title with a 19-5 record and the Hornets had won the past four Shenandoah District titles in a row.
Those who worked with and competed against Cullen knew him as a fiery competitor who loved the game of baseball.
“Rodney was a competitor, a fighter,” said legendary Stuarts Draft head coach Sam Alexander who was Cullen’s high school coach. “He played shortstop and pitched for me in high school. He would do anything you asked him to do to win the game. He was my assistant coach at Draft before he took the job at Fishburne. He was an outstanding player who went on to become a great coach, not just in baseball, but basketball as well.”
Alexander remembers one high school game that epitomized Cullen’s drive to win. “We were losing 6-0 to a team we had no business losing to. I went to the mound and brought him in and said, ‘This is embarrassing. You think you can get us out of this inning and give us a chance to come back?’ He got us out of the inning, and we came back to win the game.”
Current Broadway High School head coach George Laase competed against Cullen as both high school and Valley League coach.
“When I first got hired at Lee and started coaching with Staunton Braves, Rodney was a tremendous resource and mentor,” said Laase “He wasn’t just a great baseball coach, he was an impactful teacher, driver’s education instructor, volunteer for the Special Olympics and the list goes on and one, far more than I can put into words.
“He had so much pride in his community and players,” Laase continued. “We will miss him. We lost a great one and his legacy will live on through all of those that he touched.”
Over the years,” Cullen’s on-field demeanor may have softened a little, but the competitive fire burned as bright as ever.
“Rodney is one of the most competitive coaches I’ve ever went against,” said Fort Defiance head coach Damien Fink. “We played some big games against Wilson. In 2021, 2023 – games with postseason implications. I can tell you, the fire was still there and his teams were just as competitive as he was.”
Fink also witnessed Cullen’s dedication to the sport. “Rodney loved working on his field. I would drive by Wilson in the middle of summer and his truck would be there and you would see Rodney out there raking or doing something to maintain the field. When we played Wilson, I don’t ever remember anyone being on that John Deere, dragging the field before the game, except for Rodney,” said Fink.
“We arrived at Wilson a little early for one game and when we got there, Rodney was on the mound throwing batting practice. He loved everything about the sport. He would do baseball six or seven straight months straight, going from the high school season to the Valley League. He loved being around the players, being around the sport,” added Fink.
The Hornets baseball field is named in honor of legendary Wilson coach Bo Bowers. Cullen worked tirelessly to make sure Wilson played at a facility that would make Coach Bowers and the Wilson community proud.
“That was his home away from home,” said current Waynesboro head coach Gage Wood. “I’ve never seen a harder working coach. You always knew where to find him. Rodney was always at the field.”
Wood, who will begin his first season as Waynesboro’s head coach this spring, has the unique perspective of playing for Cullen and later working as one of Cullen’s assistants at Wilson.
“I loved playing for him,” Wood said. “He was old school, and he would shoot you straight. Coach really cared for and loved his players. Everything he did, he did out of love and support to make you a better player and a better person. And he got results. We won a lot of baseball games. He’s one of the best baseball coaches this area has had.”
Wood coached alongside Cullen for four years and those four years helped prepare him to be a head coach.
“I know I wouldn’t be in the position I’m in now without Coach Cullen,” Wood said. “In this area, when you can put on your resume that you worked on Rodney Cullen’s staff, that carriers a lot of weight.
“I know I will never have the exact same program as Wilson, but I want to build a program that has that tradition and has the respect of the other coaches and teams in the area,” Wood added.
Fellow coaches know it will be strange pulling into the Wilson parking lot this spring and not seeing Coach Cullen there to greet them.
“It’s just so sad for everyone,” said Fink. “Wilson is going to have a really good team this year. It’s sad that Rodney won’t be there to coach and lead them.”
Wood coached against Cullen a year ago as Waynesboro’s assistant and he was looking forward to going head-to-head with his mentor this spring as the Little Giants head coach.
“We played Wilson last year and we led the whole game up until about the sixth inning and they came back and won,” Wood recalls. “I told him after the game that I was going to get the best of him some day. Now, that’s not going to happen. He’s always going to have a winning record against me.”