It’s a conversation Mark Didawick will never forget.

Didawick, the longtime athletic director at Western Branch High in Chesapeake, had just been honored by the Portsmouth Sports Club for his service. He also had already informed his bosses that he would be retiring at the end of the school year.

But as he celebrated and looked forward to the next phase of his life, he noticed his son, Harrison, was quiet.

Didawick kept asking his son what was wrong, and each time he got the answer every parent is used to hearing: “Nothing.”

Didawick wasn’t satisfied, so he continued until he pried the information out of his son. Harrison, then a seventh-grader, finally broke down and told his dad about his wishes to attend Western Branch and play for Bruins baseball coach Roland Wright.

“His exact words were, ‘He can get me to where I want to go,’” Didawick said.

“I asked him, ‘What else was wrong?’” Didawick said. “He said, ‘I don’t want to ask you to do something that you don’t want to do.’”

“I wanted to go to school with my dad,” Harrison said recently.

Didawick had settled on retiring, but he and his wife, Deborah, talked about it when they got home that night.

“We had just finished meeting with [human resources], but we hadn’t signed any papers yet,” Didawick said. “I already knew the answer that night, what I was going to do, because how many people get a chance to take their kids to work?”

That, Didawick says now, “is the greatest decision I ever made.”

On June 15, Harrison will graduate from Western Branch, and he will play continue playing baseball at the University of Virginia.

And Didawick, who has spent 25 years at Western Branch, will finally get to retire five years after that decision.

Didawick said the past four years have been amazing, sharing them with his son.

“I think of it as watching him go from the little kid to the man that he is today,” Mark said as he got choked up, close to tears. “I got to experience it. I got to see him in the hallways. I got to hear the teachers talk about him. I got to see other kids talk about him.”

Harrison, now a teenager, jokes with his dad about his emotional side.

“I laugh sometimes, but it also gives me chills,” he said. “Having a father figure is obviously really important, and just him being around me as much as possible and being a good role model that he is, has set me up for a great future.”

But it hasn’t all been easy for them.

Harrison remembers how it was difficult his freshman year. He heard people say he had advantages — on the field and otherwise — because his father was the school’s AD.

“I was definitely insecure about that,” he said. “But after that, I felt pretty good. I knew I was good.”

Didawick purposely distanced himself from the baseball team. He had gone through this once before when his daughter, Taylor — a talented volleyball player — decided to attend Grassfield instead of Western Branch because she didn’t want to deal with the pressure of having her father as athletic director.

“I separated myself away from the baseball team because I didn’t want to put added pressure on him,” Didawick said.

Harrison would blossom into a star player.

This past season, he batted .495 with a .611 on-base percentage. He also scored 34 runs, with 22 RBIs and 10 stolen bases, and is a strong candidate to earn all-region and all-state honors.

Wright, who has two sons who play baseball for him at Western Branch, said having the opportunity to coach Harrison was special. But watching Harrison interact with Mark was priceless.

“It’s a very special bond they have. I’ve gotten to see it up close with now me coaching the twins,” he said. “Mark is Harrison’s biggest fan. It’s tough being a player whose dad is in that role because everyone thinks Harrison’s in that role because of who his dad is. But I think Harrison made Mark be able to enjoy his varsity career by the way he really works at his craft.”

There were some other benefits with having your dad work where you attend school. He can bring you the lunch you left at home or bring the clothes you forgot to pack.

But just hanging out with his dad was the best part.

“Just the quality time that we had together was special,” Harrison said. “Playing at Western Branch, having him here, having Coach Wright as my coach, I don’t think I could be more prepared.”

Didawick, who is now ready for retirement, said he’s going to miss Western Branch.

“There are definitely some parts of the job that I definitely won’t miss,” he said. “But there are many things I will, like the people, the parents and the kids. That’s what makes this job special. The relationships that you get to have. I will miss all of that.”

Larry Rubama, 757-575-6449, larry.rubama@pilotonline.com Follow @LHRubama on Twitter.