2011 College Baseball Hall of Fame Inductees

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2011 Induction Ceremony

The members of the 2011 Hall of Fame class were honored during the induction ceremony on July 3 in Lubbock, Texas, as part of the College Baseball Foundation's annual celebration of the greatest players in the past and present of college baseball.

The College Baseball Hall of Fame inducted seven new members Sunday in a celebration of college baseball past and present. College Baseball's Night of Champions in Lubbock, Texas saw these men added to the Hall of Fame: Arizona outfielder Terry Francona, Southern catcher Danny Goodwin, Duke shortstop Dick Groat, Grambling State coach Ralph Waldo Emerson Jones, Arizona State outfielder Oddibe McDowell, Cal State Fullerton first baseman Tim Wallach, and Clemson coach Bill Wilhelm.

Many of them used the night as a chance to look back at how lucky they were to have such experiences, and some honorees thanked a number of people they felt impacted by.

Terry Francona - University of Arizona / 1978-80

Terry gets inducted

Terry Francona, who was an outfielder at Arizona from 1978 to 1980, was named National Player of the Year in 1980, the same year he also won the Golden Spikes Award. For two years - 1979 and 1980 - he led the Pac 10 South in hits, RBIs and doubles. He was named Most Outstanding Player at the 1980 College World Series after helping to lead his Wildcats to the title. He also was named first-team All-American by the American Baseball Coaches Association, The Sporting News and Collegiate Baseball.

Danny Goodwin - Southern University / 1972-75

Danny's induction speech

Danny Goodwin, a catcher at Southern University from 1972 to 1975, still has the distinction of being the only player to twice be the overall No. 1 pick in the Major League Baseball draft. He was a three-time All-American - twice at the NAIA level and once at the NCAA level - and was The Sporting News' 1975 College Player of the Year. He had a .394 career batting average and compiled 20 home runs and 166 RBIs.

Dick Groat - Duke University / 1951-52

Dick's induction speech

Dick Groat played shortstop at Duke from 1951 to 1952. During that time, he became one of the most decorated Blue Devil players in history, twice being named ABCA All-American. In addition, he was a two-time recipient of the Southern Conference Sports Writers Association McKelvin Award for outstanding athlete of the year. He also helped lead Duke to its first College World Series appearance in 1952. Groat also excelled at basketball, becoming a two-time All-American in that sport as well. His No. 10 basketball jersey is one of 13 retired by Duke.

Ralph Waldo Emerson Jones - Grambling State University / 1926-77

"Prez" gets inducted

Dr. Ralph Waldo Emerson Jones coached at Grambling State from 1926 to 1977. During his tenure, "Prez" won six titles in the now-defunct Midwest Athletic League from 1952 to 1958 and five titles in the Southwestern Athletic Conference from 1961 to 1967. He was named NAIA Coach of the Year in 1967. Dr. Jones coached 11 NAIA All-Americans including Tommie Agee and Ralph Garr, while compiling a career record of 816-218. Dr. Jones was a busy man during his time at Grambling, also serving as the university's president from 1936 to 1977. He was inducted into the SWAC Hall of Fame in 1992.

Oddibe McDowell - Miami-Dade South CC / 1982 - Arizona State University / 1983-84

Oddibe's induction speech

Oddibe McDowell was a standout in the outfield for the Arizona State Sun Devils from 1983 to 1984 and played for 2007 College Baseball Hall of Famer Jim Brock. He was a career .380 hitter with 30 home runs and 31 doubles. In 1984, he hit .405 with 23 home runs, a performance that earned him the Golden Spikes Award. That same year he was named Player of the Year by both Collegiate Baseball and Baseball America. He also was a two-time All-American and was the first Sun Devil to have his number retired.

Dick Runchey - Umpire
  • Collegiate umpire from 1976 - 1998
    • Five College World Series - 1982, '83, '90, '94 and '98

      • worked four College World Series final games on the plate 1982, '90, '94, '98

    • 19 NCAA Div 1 Regionals

    • 3 MAC Championships

    • 12 Big Ten Championships

    • 1990 - 2013 Regional Evaluator/Advisor NCAA Baseball Umpire Program

    • NCAA Tournament Representative 2004 -2012

    • ABUA Hall of Fame 2002

    • Tim Wallach - Cal State Fullerton / 1978-79

    Tim gets inducted

    Tim Wallach helped bring national attention to Cal State Fullerton while playing first base from 1978 to 1979. During his junior year in 1978, Wallach set school records for batting average (.394), home runs (16), RBIs (80) and slugging percentage (.715) while leading the Titans to the Southern California Baseball Association championship and an NCAA Regional berth. He also was named SCBA Player of the Year. During his senior campaign, Wallach topped nearly every statistic from the previous year with a .392 batting average, 23 home runs, 102 RBIs and a .740 slugging percentage. His 102 single-season RBIs is still a school record. The Titans again won the SCBA title and also went on to win an NCAA Regional Championship and the College World Series. Wallach was named a first-team All-American by ABCA and The Sporting News and won the Golden Spikes Award.

    Bill Wilhelm - Clemson University / 1958-93

    Bill's induction speech

    Bill Wilhelm led the Clemson Tigers from 1958 to 1993, compiling a 1,161-536-10 career record. At the time of his retirement, he was the fifth winningest coach in college baseball history. He went 36 consecutive seasons without a losing record. During his career, Wilhelm's teams had five 50-win seasons, 11 ACC Championships, 16 Top 25 seasons and six trips to the College World Series. He also coached 20 All-Americans and 88 first-team All-ACC players. He saw 27 of his players go on to play Major League baseball and 100 former players signed professional baseball contracts.