As one of the 10 new inductees to the fifth
class of the College Baseball Hall of
Fame, former Cerritos College baseball coach
Wally Kincaid had everyone at
the United Spirit Arena on the campus of Texas
Tech University anxious to hear what the
legendary coach had to say during his induction
ceremony on July 1.
"I'm probably the only person here who hit a double off the
New York Yankees' Red Ruffing and who was thrown
out at the plate trying to score on a 400-foot
fly ball by Joe DiMaggio when our local team
played an Army Air Force base squad in Southern
California during World War II," said Kincaid.
From 1958-77 and 1979-80, Kincaid served as an
innovator to how baseball is played, and his
coaching style is mirrored by countless coaches
to this day. In addition to leading the Falcons
to six California Community College baseball
state championships, Kincaid also won six
Southern California Championships, one Northern
California Championship, 15 conference
championships and 51 tournament titles. He was
also honored as the National Community College
Coach of the Century by Baseball America. In his
22 season, Kincaid went 678-163 for an .806
winning percentage.
"I just want to thank the Lord for this great honor and to
thank the many players whom I have been honored
to coach," added Kincaid. "It's been a great
run."
 The Hall of Fame members each received a personalized
portrait, a special Balfour Hall of fame ring
and a Texas-sized belt buckle.
"We were very pleased that Coach Kincaid was a part of this
year's Hall of Fame class," said Dr. Mike
Gustafson, Hall of Fame chairman and executive
director of the College Baseball Foundation.
"Last year we had our first small-school
inductee and with a two-year college
representative this year, we take another step
toward fully representing all levels of college
baseball in the Hall of Fame.
As recently as
the 2009 season, Kincaid served as an assistant
coach with the Falcon baseball program, while he has
also served on the coaching staffs at Santa Ana
College and Cal State Long Beach, where he was a
part of three programs that advanced to the College
World Series. His players have branched out to all
levels of the baseball world, while former players
such as George Horton (University of Oregon), Mike
Weathers (Cal State Long Beach), Dave Snow (Cal
State Long Beach), Dave Serrano (Cal State
Fullerton), Don Sneddon (Santa Ana College), Ken
Gaylord (Cerritos College) and Bob Apodaca (Colorado
Rockies pitching coach) have all made a major impact
in the game. Additionally, more than 150 of his
former players have gone on to coach at some level,
while over 40 played Major League Baseball.
|
