On July 2 at 6:00 p.m. at Phil Trani's Restaurant in Long Beach, the most recognized and respected community college baseball coach in history will be honored. Wally Kincaid, who coached the Cerritos College baseball team for 22 years and won six California Community College state championships, posted a 678-163 record during his career. Former Falcon baseball player Tim Olivarez, who played for Kincaid in 1976, is hosting the banquet as a lead-in to the 1st Annual Wally Kincaid 4th of July Wood Bat Series Tournament.

    Olivarez is the head coach of the Playa Vista Orioles, one of 12 teams in the tournament, which will see teams from as far and New York and Canada competing. The tournament will include student-athletes from schools throughout the Southern California region (six teams), New York (two teams) and Sacramento, Calif. (one team), as well as three international teams: three from Canada and one each from Mexico and Australia. More than 300 student athletes, ages 12 – 18, their family members and tournament volunteers – will participate in the July 4 tournament. The tournament will be played at numerous sites, including Cerritos College, Cal State Long Beach, Pepperdine University, Cal State Los Angeles and Brookside Park in Pasadena, while the winner will receive automatic bid to the AZ Sr. Classic 2009.

    Over the course of his career, Kincaid sent over 150 of his student-athletes into professional baseball, while even more than that went on to be coaches at all different levels. Some of those former players that have confirmed to be attending the banquet include Dave Snow (former Cal State Long Beach head coach), Mike Weathers (current Cal State Long Beach head coach), George Horton (University of Oregon head coach), Ken Gaylord (Cerritos College head coach) and Don Sneddon (Santa Ana College head coach). Tickets for the banquet are $50.00 per person and can be ordered by calling (310) 341-3392 or by visiting www.wallysbirds.com.