2019 ABCA Hall of Fame Class

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Former University of South Alabama baseball head coach Steve Kittrell will be inducted into the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in January 2019, as announced by the organization Thursday.

Kittrell coached baseball for 29 seasons, with 28 of those at South Alabama, and finished with a 1,084-663-1 career record. At USA, Kittrell went 1,052-644-1 and helped lead the Jaguars to 18 NCAA Tournament appearances, 14 Sun Belt Conference regular season and division titles, and eight league tournament championships.

"I'm extremely honored," Kittrell said. "I served on the ABCA All-American committee for seven years, and I found out first-hand how well-run of an organization it is and how respected it is around the country. As a coach, you're only going in (Hall of Fame) because of your assistant coaches and players and the hard-work ethic and talent they had. 

"I'm deeply humbled and very appreciative that I'm going in next to some guys who I coached against:  Skip Bertman, Ron Polk, Ron Fraser, Jim Morris, Mike Martin. I'm going in with a bunch of pretty good coaches, so I feel very honored and thankful to my assistant coaches and players who helped me along the way. Coach (Eddie) Stanky most of all, because without playing for him at South Alabama – that's where I decided to become a coach because I learned so much from him and I wanted to relay the information I learned from him and make it as much fun as he did for me."

Kittrell's Jaguar teams finished with a winning record 25 times during his tenure, won 40 or more games on 14 occasions while advancing to within one win of making a College World Series appearance in six seasons. Fourteen South Alabama teams under Kittrell's command ended the year ranked in the top 30 of either the Baseball America or Collegiate Baseball final polls.

He was named the region coach of the year by the ABCA twice, and was voted the SBC Coach of the Year six times in addition to being named the all-time head coach on the league's 30th anniversary team in 2006. During his tenure, Kittrell had 22 student-athletes earn All-America honors, 41 all-region selections and 79 individuals who received all-SBC accolades; that group included five SBC Players of the Year as well as the conference Pitcher of the Year in 2006. Kittrell also coached a pair of Academic All-Americans.

More than 100 Jaguars played in the professional ranks following the conclusion of their careers under Kittrell, including 17 who would go on to reach the Major Leagues. Former Jags who played under Kittrell and achieved success in the majors include Gonzalez — who provided the game-winning hit for the Arizona Diamondbacks in game seven of the 2001 World Series — and 2011 World Series and National League Championship Series Most Valuable Player David Freese as well as All-Stars Lance Johnson and Jon Lieber. In addition, Juan Pierre finished 10th in voting for the National League's MVP in 2004 while Adam Lind was 15th in the vote for the '09 American League MVP, with Marlon Anderson, Mike Mordecai and Turner Ward all playing in the majors for 10 or more years.

Kittrell — a 1971 South Alabama graduate with a degree in health, physical education and recreation — still holds the program record for four-year players with a career .368 batting average.  He was inducted into the school's Athletic Hall of Fame in 1993, inducted into the Mobile Sports Hall of Fame in 2004 and had his No. 3 retired by South Alabama in 2016 following his retirement at USA at the conclusion of the 2011 season.

The 2019 ABCA Hall of Fame inductions will be held during the 75th annual ABCA Convention on Fri., Jan. 4, 2019, at the Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center in Dallas, Texas. Registration for the convention as well as tickets to attend the Hall of Fame banquet will go on sale Sept. 1. Induction into the ABCA Hall of Fame is the highest honor bestowed by the organization. The ABCA was founded in 1945 and the Hall of Fame began in 1966. 

Joining Kittrell in the 2019 Hall of Fame class are Joe Carbone (Ohio), Gary "Bo" Collins (SIU-Edwardsville), Ron Davini (Corona del Sol [Ariz.] High School), Pat Doyle (San Joaquin [Calif.] Delta College), Dave Grant (Glendale [Ariz.] CC) and Scott Pickler (Cypress [Calif.] College).

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with USAJaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at Twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

Join the South Circle, the unrestricted giving option of the University of South Alabama Athletics. Contributions to South Circle directly support all 17 sports in addition to various support programming. For more information on how you can join visit: http://jaguarathleticfund.com/give.