Former Citrus College player makes his dream a reality as coach

By Eddie Hughes,
Spectrum News1, Winstom-Salem

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — The old saying goes, when life gives you lemons make lemonade. Kirk Cabana is an example of setting a goal and reaching that goal despite the odds.

Cabana takes full responsibility for the lemons in his life, and his path to the Piedmont Triad almost happened years ago.

Cabana says he had a full scholarship to attend North Carolina A&T as a kicker for the Aggies football team coming out of junior college in 2007. With a few classes left to complete, Cabana says,"Just self sabotage, stopped going to classes, starting hanging out with friends too much, started making every excuse in the book for who's fault it was except mine."

The California native says he started to work for his family's pest control company before he started wanting more in life.

Cabana enrolled at Citrus College and played one year of baseball before transferring to Piedmont College in Winston-Salem.

When Cabana lined up to play for the Bruins, he was 31 years old. Playing in 23 games, he had a .192 batting average with 7 RBI and a .852 fielding percentage.

His plan didn't include making the major leagues but to accomplish other dreams.

"Go to community college for one year, play baseball for two years, getting my degree, going back as a grads assistant at whatever school I go to hopefully, work hard enough for two years that they'd want to entrust me to keep me around for two more years," Cabana says.

(Click here to read the remainder of the story from Spectrum News 1)