The Historical Society of Avon ParkAVON PARK, FL · EST. 1886
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The Gordon Family: Tom, Dee, and Nick

Three Major League Baseball players from one family share deep ties to Avon Park: Tom “Flash” Gordon, who grew up in Avon Park and attended Avon Park High School, and his two sons, Dee Strange-Gordon and Nick Gordon — Dee raised and schooled in Avon Park, and Nick born in the town.[bbref-tom-gordon][bbref-dee-strange-gordon][bbref-nick-gordon]

Family background and upbringing in Avon Park

Tom Gordon was born November 18, 1967, at the hospital in nearby Sebring, Florida, but was raised in Avon Park, where his parents made their home.[bbref-tom-gordon][archived-bob-nightengale-phillies-all][hof-cardcorner-tom-gordon] His father, Thomas Gordon, worked at a local plant nursery, while his mother, Annie Gordon, served as head cook at a regional rehabilitation center.[archived-bob-nightengale-phillies-all] The Gordon household in Avon Park included four brothers and one sister; among them, his brother Anthony Gordon also developed into a standout pitcher at Avon Park High School and was drafted by the Seattle Mariners in 1987.[archived-bob-nightengale-phillies-all] Tom Gordon began competing in local Avon Park Little League baseball programs by 1980.[hof-cardcorner-tom-gordon]

Tom Gordon became the father of sons Devaris (Dee) Strange-Gordon and Nicholas (Nick) Gordon, who are paternal half-brothers.[bbref-tom-gordon][bbref-dee-strange-gordon][bbref-nick-gordon] Dee was born to Gordon’s high-school sweetheart, Devona Strange.[archived-bob-nightengale-phillies-all] Following Devona Strange’s death in 1995 when Dee was seven years old, Tom Gordon secured legal custody, and Dee moved into the Avon Park home of his grandmother Annie Gordon.[archived-bob-nightengale-phillies-all] Dee was raised in Avon Park under the primary care of his grandmother and extended family while his father traveled during major-league baseball seasons.[archived-bob-nightengale-phillies-all][mlb-dee-gordon-hometown] Strange-Gordon is Dee’s legal surname; after competing professionally as “Dee Gordon” for over a decade, he formally adopted his legal hyphenated surname in 2020 to honor his late mother.[bbref-dee-strange-gordon]

Tom “Flash” Gordon

Gordon attended Avon Park High School, pitching for the Red Devils under head coach Ronnie Jackson.[hof-cardcorner-tom-gordon][apchampions-gordon-2012] On the mound, Gordon’s sharp-breaking curveball and electric fastball produced historic strikeout rates: he struck out 21 batters in a single high-school contest and recorded 46 strikeouts against 48 consecutive batters faced across a three-game stretch.[hof-cardcorner-tom-gordon] Although he started on varsity as a freshman, Gordon missed playing his sophomore year due to academic ineligibility — the season Avon Park captured the 1984 FHSAA Class 2A state championship.[hof-cardcorner-tom-gordon] As a senior in the spring of 1986, Gordon dominated Florida high-school competition, compiling a 12–1 win-loss record with 188 strikeouts in 88 innings pitched.[hof-cardcorner-tom-gordon]

The Kansas City Royals selected Gordon in the sixth round of the 1986 MLB June Amateur Draft out of Avon Park High School.[bbref-tom-gordon] Over 21 major-league seasons (1988–2009) with the Royals, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, Houston Astros, Chicago White Sox, New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies, and Arizona Diamondbacks, he made 890 appearances, compiling a 138–126 record, 158 saves, a 3.96 ERA, and 1,928 strikeouts across 2,108 innings.[bbref-tom-gordon][hof-cardcorner-tom-gordon] In 1998, serving as closer for the Red Sox, Gordon led the American League with a club-record 46 saves, converting 43 consecutive saves that year and 54 consecutive regular-season saves across 1998 and 1999.[hof-cardcorner-tom-gordon][apchampions-gordon-2012] His national prominence during this period inspired Stephen King’s 1999 bestselling novel The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon.[apchampions-gordon-2012] Gordon was named an All-Star three times (1998, 2004, 2006) and earned a World Series championship ring with the 2008 Phillies.[bbref-tom-gordon] He is one of only three pitchers in major league history — alongside Dennis Eckersley and John Smoltz — to record at least 100 wins, 100 saves, and 1,900 strikeouts.[hof-cardcorner-tom-gordon]

Dee Strange-Gordon

Devaris Strange-Gordon was born April 22, 1988 in Windermere, Florida.[bbref-dee-strange-gordon] Raised in Avon Park from age seven by his grandmother Annie Gordon, he attended Avon Park High School, where he starred as a point guard on the varsity basketball team and did not focus on competitive baseball until his senior spring.[archived-bob-nightengale-phillies-all][mlb-dee-gordon-hometown][bbref-dee-strange-gordon] Gordon continued his athletic development at Seminole State College of Florida and Southeastern University before being selected in the fourth round of the 2008 MLB draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers.[bbref-dee-strange-gordon]

Making his major-league debut on June 6, 2011, Strange-Gordon played eleven seasons (2011–2022) with the Dodgers, Miami Marlins, Seattle Mariners, and Washington Nationals.[bbref-dee-strange-gordon] Across 1,024 major-league games, he compiled 1,118 hits, a lifetime .286 batting average, and 336 stolen bases.[bbref-dee-strange-gordon] In 2015 with the Marlins, he led the National League in both batting average (.333) and stolen bases (64), winning a Gold Glove Award, a Silver Slugger Award, and his second consecutive All-Star selection.[bbref-dee-strange-gordon] Strange-Gordon has maintained constant personal ties to Avon Park throughout his career, returning each winter to spend the offseason with family and church members, and founding the annual Dee Gordon Boys & Girls Club Christmas Basketball Tournament in Avon Park to benefit local children.[mlb-dee-gordon-hometown]

Nick Gordon

Nicholas Chad Gordon was born October 24, 1995 in Avon Park, Florida.[bbref-nick-gordon] Raised and schooled in the Orlando metropolitan area, he attended Olympia High School, where he was named the 2013 Florida Gatorade Baseball Player of the Year.[bbref-nick-gordon] The Minnesota Twins selected him fifth overall in the first round of the 2014 MLB draft.[bbref-nick-gordon] Gordon made his major-league debut on May 6, 2021, and over four seasons (2021–2024) with the Twins and Miami Marlins appeared in 338 games as a versatile middle infielder and outfielder, recording 240 hits, 23 home runs, 112 RBIs, and a .244 career batting average.[bbref-nick-gordon]

Scholastic and birthplace distinctions

Local coverage of the family sometimes confuses birthplace and scholastic roots: Tom Gordon and Dee Strange-Gordon were schooled at Avon Park High School but born in neighboring cities (Sebring and Windermere), while Nick Gordon was born in Avon Park but raised and schooled in Orlando.[bbref-tom-gordon][bbref-dee-strange-gordon][bbref-nick-gordon] No individual member of the family was both born and schooled in Avon Park. See Avon Park in the Majors for the parallel career distinctions of native-born Hal McRae and other local alumni.

Civic honors and depot museum recognition

Tom Gordon was inducted into the Avon Park Champions Club Hall of Fame in 2012, entering in the same induction class as his high school coach Ronnie Jackson.[apchampions-gordon-2012] Gordon is commemorated on the exterior mural painted by artist Keith Goodson on the Avon Park Depot & Baseball Museum.[newssun-artist-signs-mural-depicting] At the museum’s ribbon-cutting dedication on May 9, 2026, Gordon addressed the audience from the podium, stating that the museum “is a reflection of what you have done for so many years, which is to love this community, and to inspire our youth,” and citing fellow Avon Park native Hal McRae as a primary inspiration for local players who followed in his footsteps.[newssun-play-ball-ribbon-cutting]

Dee Strange-Gordon’s interest in supporting local baseball infrastructure through inquiries regarding Charles R. Head Field is documented in Cardinal Field.

References

Where this comes from

Evidence
corroborated — More than one independent source agrees.
Review
unverified — Drafted from sources but not yet checked by a volunteer.
Rights
society

Sources

  1. Tom Gordon Stats — Baseball-Reference (2026) · official
  2. Craig Muder, "#CardCorner: 1989 Donruss Tom Gordon" — National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum (2020) · secondary
  3. Bob Nightengale, "Phillies All-Star closer has faced obstacles, now hopes to guide young players" — USA Today, via the Wayback Machine (2006) · newspaper
  4. Dee Strange-Gordon Stats — Baseball-Reference (2026) · official
  5. Joe Frisaro, "Hometown a special place for Gordon" — MLB.com (2014) · secondary
  6. Nick Gordon Stats — Baseball-Reference (2026) · official
  7. Thomas Gordon and Ronnie Jackson — Avon Park Champions Club Hall of Fame (2012 Archive) (2012) · official
  8. Artist signs mural depicting baseball history (John Guerra) — Highlands News-Sun · newspaper
  9. Play Ball! — ribbon-cutting recap, Highlands News-Sun (John Guerra) (2026) · newspaper

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