‘He touched so many lives’
Eustis High School baseball coach David Lee dies at 55
In need of a heart transplant, Eustis High School baseball coach David Lee — who led the team to a state championship in 2000 and was the winningest manager in the school’s history — died Thursday. He was 55.
“David was an old school baseball coach who felt it was his job to develop young students into men who make positive contributions to society,” said his brother Don Rixie of Lady Lake. “He was so passionate about baseball and the life lessons that it taught young men….He touched so many lives.”
On Lee’s Facebook page, friends, students and former players left messages that called Lee a great coach and mentor.
Eustis High athletic director Harry Tomlinson said Lee was about to prepare for the upcoming baseball season this month when he became ill with congestive heart failure. Eustis football coach Mike Hay will now fill in as the school’s head baseball coach this spring. The first day of preseason practice is Jan. 28.
“He wasn’t shy about barking at a kid,” Tomlinson said. “He believed in discipline, in preparation. But he also would sit down and talk with a kid to make sure they didn’t make the same mistake again.”
It was Lee’s second stint as baseball coach at Eustis. He started his career as a junior-varsity coach at Leesburg High, his alma mater. He then coached at Mount Dora High School for four years starting in 1991, before becoming Eustis’ head coach in 1995.
In his last season during his first stint at Eustis, Lee compiled a 129-58 record and the team won the Class 3A state championship with a 3-2 victory over Fort Myers Bishop Verot.
He later coached at Apopka High School for five seasons before returning to Eustis in 2011. His record at Eustis was 281-124.
Born in Leesburg, Lee attended Central Florida Community College in Ocala on a baseball scholarship, Rixie said. He also played baseball at the University of Central Florida, where he earned an English degree.
Although Lee focused on baseball throughout the year, he sometimes found time to play guitar and sing, his brother said.
On Jan. 3, Lee checked himself into Leesburg Regional Medical Center. He then was transported to UF Health Shands Hospital in Gainesville, where he underwent a six-hour procedure during which a device was attached that relieves the work of the heart and lungs.
“He touched so many lives in so many different ways,” Rixie said.
A fundraising golf tournament will be held in Lee’s honor Feb. 9 at Black Bear Country Club in Eustis to raise money to buy a new scoreboard for the Eustis High baseball field. The new scoreboard for the field was something Lee always wanted, Rixie said.
Besides his brother, survivors also include his wife, Tina; daughter, Sarah Lee of Clermont; stepsons, John Cisney of Eustis and Fernando Fino, who is in the Navy; stepdaughter Felicia Fino of Pensacola; his father John Lee of Leesburg; and other brothers Sam Rixie of Fruitland Park and LaVelle Rixie of Lake Jem.