Flagler College unveils statue of former baseball coach Dave Barnett at Drysdale Field

• Flagler College unveiled a statue honoring former baseball coach Dave Barnett who retired last year.
• Barnett coached for 37 years at Flagler College and had 1,054 victories.
• Barnett’s statue is located on the third-base side of Drysdale Field

ST. AUGUSTINE — A statue of Flagler College founder Henry Flagler stands outside the main entrance to the campus in downtown St. Augustine.

The railroad tycoon, whose hotel later became the private liberal arts college that has been in the Ancient City since 1968, has company — albeit 2.2 miles to the Southwest at Drysdale Field.

Flagler unveiled a statue to honor former baseball coach Dave Barnett, on April 5 prior to the team’s game against Claflin College. Barnett, who retired last year after 37 years and 1,054 victories, was the longest-tenured coach at Flagler, with 18 seasons of 30 or more victories and a program that produced 51 professional players.

Senior players from this year’s Saints team pulled the covering off the statue to a countdown started by Flagler President and former Jacksonville Mayor John Delaney.

”Today is the day we honor the pledge that we made about a year ago to [Barnett] when he retired … to thank him for his great career,” Delaney said during the ceremony.

When the statue was unveiled, Barnett quipped, “I wish I looked that good.”

Statue guards Barnett’s ‘playground’

Barnett said he will always appreciate the fact that the statue overlooks “my playground.“

”In 1987, there was nothing out here, just an empty field,” he said. “No dugouts, no stands, just a backstop. It’s been an unbelievable career that I wouldn’t have dreamed of.”

Barnett thanked athletic director Jud Damon, Delaney, and the school’s board of trustees for their support and also had a word for his wife Tina.

”I’ve got a statue, but she should be on Mount Rushmore,” he said.

Barnett also said no coach can be successful without players and he had some parting words to the 2025 team, most of whom he recruited and coached.

“If you’re having any success as a coach, it’s the players that made your career,” he said. “Enjoy playing. It’s the greatest game ever invented. It teaches the greatest life lessons of any sport. I just want you guys to appreciate every time you step on that field. Make the most of it; do your best all the time because one day it will be over.”

What are the dimensions of Barnett’s statue?

A bit taller than Barnett himself, the statue is made of bronze and weighs around 500 pounds.

It was made by the American Bronze Foundry in Sanford. The process involved Barnett having to travel to the company to undergo two hours of scanning.

The statue’s cost was around $60,000, with private donations helping defray the amount.

The statue is located on the third-base side of the stadium, which Barnett and the college worked for years to build from a field that had no dugouts, locker room, practice area or concession stands when he took over in the fall of 1987.

It’s in a plaza between the locker room and the stadium, standing on a base with the words: “Dave Barnett, head baseball coach, 1988-2024. 1,054 career wins.”

Damon said Barnett’s legacy will always be the lives he touched, not the victories they produced on the field.

“I think it’s always going to be the influence and the impact he had on his players, on their lives and their families,” Damon said. “Those relationships mean a lot more than the wins.”

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