Story Created:
Jul 26, 2010 at 11:38 AM PST
Story Updated:
Jul 26, 2010 at 11:38 AM PST
Wally Kincaid, who directed Cerritos College to six state community college baseball championships and developed numerous pro players and college coaches, has been inducted into the College Baseball Hall of Fame.
He was one of 10 inductees at the ceremony held at Texas Tech.
Kincaid, who coached Cerritos from 1958-77 and 1979-80, told of an encounter with a baseball legend during his induction speech.
“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,” Kincaid said.
“I just want to thank the Lord for this great honor and to thank the many players whom I have been honored to coach. It’s been a great run.”
In addition to the state titles, Kincaid also won six Southern California Championships, one Northern California title, 15 conference championships and 51 tournament titles. He was also honored as the National Community College Coach of the Century by Baseball America. In 22 seasons, Kincaid was 678-163 (.806 winning percentage).
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,” Dr. Mike Gustafson, Hall of Fame chairman and executive director of the College Baseball Foundation, said. “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 2009, Kincaid served as an assistant coach with the Falcon baseball program. He has also served on the coaching staffs at Santa Ana College and Long Beach State, where he was a part of three teams 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 (Oregon), Mike Weathers (Long Beach State), Dave Snow (Long Beach State), 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.
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