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RES-2025-052 <br /> <br />ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br /> <br />Resolution Naming Cedar Grove Park Athletic Field #1 as the <br />“Coach Willie Lawrence Vanhook Athletic Field” <br />  <br />WHEREAS, Willie Lawrence Vanhook (born 1932) is widely known and respected as a <br />civic leader, Civil Rights advocate, successful tobacco farmer, volunteer 4-H leader and <br />church trustee, both in his beloved Cedar Grove community and throughout Orange <br />County; and <br /> <br />WHEREAS, Willie Lawrence Vanhook achieved success as a leading tobacco farmer in <br />Cedar Grove, starting out as a sharecropper and finally attaining the ownership of his own <br />farm; and <br /> <br />WHEREAS, Mr. Vanhook achieved a major integration breakthrough by becoming one of <br />the first African American tobacco graders and buyers in the country, starting as a grader <br />for the burley tobacco markets in Tennessee and Kentucky, and later working as a buyer <br />for the Universal Leaf Tobacco Company and Phillip Morris, Inc.; and <br /> <br />WHEREAS, through his leadership, Mr. Vanhook played a leading role in the formation <br />of the Cedar Grove Recreation Association and started a softball league for youth and <br />adults, serving as a coach and mentor to whole a generation of athletes; and <br /> <br />WHEREAS, in appreciation of Mr. Vanhook’s dedication and commitment to his <br />community, the Cedar Grove Recreation Association has proposed naming the Cedar <br />Grove Park Athletic Field #1 as the “Coach Willie Lawrence Vanhook Athletic Field;” and <br /> <br />WHEREAS, at its Business meeting on September 16, 2025, the Board of County <br />Commissioners stated its intent to name the Cedar Grove Park Athletic Field #1 to honor <br />Coach Willie Lawrence Vanhook and provide an appropriate sign and interpretive marker; <br /> <br />NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Orange County Board of <br />Commissioners does hereby name the Cedar Grove Park Athletic Field #1 to be the <br />“Coach Willie Lawrence Vanhook Athletic Field.” <br /> <br />This the 7th day of October, 2025. <br /> <br />____________________________________ <br />Jamezetta Bedford, Chair <br />Orange County Board of Commissioners. <br /> <br />ATTEST: <br /> <br />_________________________________ <br />Laura Jensen, Clerk to the Board <br />3