The American Baseball Coaches Association has announced its five-member ABCA Hall of Fame class of 2015. Denney Crabaugh, Mark Fuller, Fred Hill, Ray Korn and Mike Roberts will be inducted during the Hall of Fame/Coach of the Year Banquet at the ABCA Convention on Jan. 3, 2015 in Orlando, Florida.
Induction to 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.
Tickets to the ABCA Hall of Fame/Coach of the Year Banquet must be purchased in advance and can be ordered online at www.ABCA.org/apply.
DENNEY CRABAUGH
In his 26 years as the head baseball coach at Oklahoma City University, coach Denney Crabaugh’s teams have made 12 trips to the NAIA World Series and posted a 1,268-398-2 record for an incredible .761 winning percentage. The Stars recorded four consecutive appearances in the NAIA National Championship game from 2002 through ’05, culminating with a national championship victory in 2005. He was the sixth coach to be named ABCA/Diamond NAIA Coach of the Year twice, earning the honor in both 2003 and 2005. He was named Oklahoma Baseball Coaches Association Coach of the Year in 1992, 2002 and 2005. With his achievements, Crabaugh has been inducted into both the Oklahoma Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame and the NAIA Hall of Fame.
Crabaugh guided the 2004 Stars to an NAIA-record 73 wins. OCU has won 10 conference titles, nine conference tournament championships and reeled off at least 50 wins in 12 straight seasons under Crabaugh’s leadership. Off the field, OCU has been an NAIA scholar baseball team four times.
Crabaugh joined OCU as an assistant coach in 1987 and, since then, has coached 134 future professionals, 62 MLB draftees, 81 All-Americans, 61 NAIA scholar-athletes and seven NAIA National Players of the Year. Crabaugh began his coaching career as graduate assistant at Southeastern Oklahoma State.
MARK FULLER
Mark Fuller’s role in baseball has been extensive, from his 34 years as head coach at Cumberland High School in Wisconsin, where his teams went 482-243, to his 35 years at the helm of the American Legion program, where Cumberland accumulated a 524-321 record. As a high school coach, Fuller’s teams won 10 conference tournaments, 13 regional and four sectional titles.
During the summer, Fuller’s days often put him on the field from 8 a.m. until 10 p.m. as he started the day with hitting lessons, then coached Little League, Babe Ruth and Legion teams before the day ended.
To help promote the sport in Northern Wisconsin, Fuller started an area coaches clinic, which celebrated its 31st year last winter. A 30-year member of the Wisconsin Baseball Coaches Executive Board, Fuller has been instrumental in running the state clinic and he was a co-founder of the State All-Star Classic. He is the only individual to have ever been Wisconsin’s Baseball Man of the Year twice.
Fuller worked with numerous entities in the Cumberland community to build one of the top baseball fields in Wisconsin, which was honored by Turface Sports Products with the 2002 ABCA Field Maintenance Award.
Fuller served on the Clinic Committee at six ABCA Conventions. He has served as a clinician at three ABCA Conventions and he has presented at 10 different state clinics, in Canada and in seven European countries.
FRED HILL
Amassing a 1,089-749-9 record over 37 years at the collegiate level, former Rutgers baseball head coach Fred Hill is a legend in the coaching circles. The veteran mentor retired after the 2013 season at Rutgers, where his teams went 941-658-7 (.588) in 30 seasons. He earned 11 NCAA Regional appearances, 12 regular season conference championships and eight conference tournament titles during his tenure with the Scarlet Knights.
Hill began at Rutgers in 1984 and built the team into a northeast baseball power. Rutgers won eight straight Atlantic 10 regular season titles starting in 1986 and advanced to the NCAA Tournament five times in that stretch. When Rutgers joined the Big East, Hill continued that success and became the second-winningest coach in conference history with 267 victories over 19 seasons. Rutgers won both the regular season and tournament titles in 1998 as Hill was named Coach of the Year. That started a stretch of five NCAA berths in six years that included hosting an NCAA Regional in 2000, a rarity for a northeast school.
From 1977-83, Hill led Montclair State to a 148-91-2 record, three NCAA Tournament appearances and a berth to the 1983 Div. III World Series. Hill was also the football coach at Montclair State and went 55-13-4 in seven years, winning five NJAC titles.
During his career, Hill sent 72 players to professional baseball and developed 20 All-Americans. Current Major Leaguers, Todd Frazier of the Cincinnati Reds and David DeJesus of the Tampa Bay Rays played under Hill at Rutgers.
RAY KORN
Ray Korn spent his coaching career at every level of baseball. He coached for 34 years in the New Jersey high school ranks and, during that same time, served as pitching coach at the collegiate and professional levels as well as for several Team USA squads.
Korn was coach at Roselle Catholic School from 1974-79 and was coach and Athletic Director at Elizabeth High School from 1980-2009, amassing a 652-309 record in those 34 years. His teams won 39 championships and 15 players were taken in the MLB draft as Korn was selected ABCA Region Coach of the Year four times.
Korn was pitching coach at Seton Hall from 1976-80. He coached and scouted in the professional ranks for many years in the Cleveland Indians, Detroit Tigers and Chicago Cubs organizations.
At the international level, Korn was pitching coach for the USA Jr. National Team at the World Championship in 1990 and was pitching coach for the USA Pan-Am Cup Team in Panama City in 2001. He was pitching coach for USA Women’s Baseball Team 2006.
Since 2010, Korn has served as volunteer assistant coach at Ardrey Kell High School in Charlotte, N.C.
Korn has been a clinician several times at the ABCA Convention. He has spoken before the baseball coaches associations in several states as well as in Europe. He has published articles pertaining to pitcher biomechanics, training and game preparation.
During his career, Korn coached more than 20 Major Leaguers, including Tony Clark, Darryl Strawberry and Bob Milacki.
MIKE ROBERTS
Mike Roberts led the University of North Carolina to nine NCAA Tournaments and two College World Series appearances in 21 seasons in Chapel Hill. The longtime Cape Cod Baseball League coach recently finished his 11th season as leader of the Cotuit Kettleers and led the team to the 2013 CCBL championship.
Roberts coached at UNC from 1978-98, leading the team to a 780-428-3 (.645) record. In addition to the postseason accolades, the Tar Heels won five ACC regular season titles and four ACC tournament championships. Roberts coached at UNC Asheville in 2000.
In the CCBL, the Kettleers brought home the Arnold Mycock trophy to Cotuit in 2010 and 2013. In 2012, the team won the President’s Trophy for the league’s best regular season record at 30-14. Previously in the Cape League, Roberts led the Wareham Gatemen to Western Division titles in 1984 and 2000.
Eight of Roberts’s former players were selected in the first round of the MLB draft and 16 of his Tar Heels made it to the Major Leagues. Five of Roberts’s former players are collegiate head coaches and several are assistants. Walt Weiss, who played for Roberts at UNC and was American League Rookie of the year in 1988, is the manager of the Colorado Rockies.
Roberts’s son, Brian Roberts, is a two-time All-Star second baseman and currently plays for the New York Yankees.
Roberts has several videos and has written two books on base stealing: You Can’t Steal Second Base and Keep Your Foot on First! published in Dec. 2008 and Baserunning published in Dec. 2013. He is a consultant and clinician on the same topics.
