Billy Reed, Hillsborough High baseball coaching legend and Belmont Heights Little League co-founder, dies at 86

Billy Reed
HILLSBOROUGH, Tampa 3/6/99 -- REED -- Hillsborough High School's former baseball coach Billy Reed, holds his grandson Eric Blanc (8 mos), before the dedication ceremony naming the school's field in Reed's honor. Stf Photo/ Amy M.Otero FOR SPORTS

TAMPA — He had no biological sons, but that was just a technicality.

Hundreds — perhaps thousands — can attest that few had a stronger, more nurturing paternal presence in Tampa’s inner city than Billy Reed.

“Just a great guy,” said retired peer Frank Permuy, who won more than 1,300 baseball games in a local high school coaching career spanning more than 40 years.

“Not just a good baseball man but just a genuinely good man. There’s no telling how many lives he touched, especially in his area. He had to be a father figure to a lot of guys — a lot of guys — in his area.”

Mr. Reed, who helped develop major league stars Dwight Gooden, Gary Sheffield and several others during an iconic high school coaching career in Hillsborough County, died Saturday evening of natural causes.

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