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.
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.
After a freshman season in which he hit .180, Lou Brock became the star of the Southern University baseball team that won the 1959 NAIA College World Series, becoming the first and only HBCU baseball team to win a national title at any level. That year, Brock his .524 for the season with five home runs, eight doubles and six triples. Following the season, he was selected to play for the United States national team in the Pan American Games.
In 1960, Brock’s junior season, he again led the Jaguars to the NAIA College World Series, where they lost in the semifinals. As he was in 1959, Brock was named to the NAIA All-Tournament team in 1960. For the year, Lou Brock hit .351 and stole 18 bases.
After his junior year, Lou Brock signed a contract with the Chicago Cubs and after a 19-year pro career, Brock earned entry into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
As a freshman in 1964, Garr made only 21 plate appearances for the Tigers. However, in his final three years in school, Ralph Garr was the team’s leading hitter each year. His .582 average in 1967 not only led Grambling by a wide margin, but also topped the entire NAIA and NCAA Division II. Going into the 2013 college season, Garr still holds the Division II record for highest batting average in a season. He also set a record with his 11 triples that year.
During Ralph Garr’s career at Grambling, winning baseball was a foregone conclusion. It’s hard to imagine any one college player having taken part in a more successful four-year span than Garr did at Grambling with its 103-11 record between the years of 1964-1967. In 1967, Grambling won 33 of its 34 regular season games and finished third at the annual NAIA baseball championship. For his career, Garr had an impressive batting average of .418.
Ralph Garr culminated a great career at Grambling with his selection as a first team NAIA All-American in 1967 and his selection by the Atlanta Braves in the third round of that year’s MLB First-Year Player Draft (52nd overall).
William C. Matthews was at Tuskegee from 1893 to 1897 and captained the 1897 team. He also helped organize the school’s first football team. Following his career at Tuskegee, he went on to play at Harvard as an infielder. During his time with the Crimson, he was part of teams that went a combined 75-18. In his senior season, he hit .400 and stole 22 bases, all while continuing to deal with boycotts and tension on and off the field.
Matthews was selected by the Black College Legends and Pioneers Committee, which selects inductees who played or coached at HBCUs prior to 1975. He joins Ralph Garr, Lou Brock, Danny Goodwin and Ralph Waldo Emerson Jones as previous honorees in this category.
Al Holland pitched at North Carolina A&T from 1972-1975 before beginning a 10-year Major League Baseball career. He threw four no-hitters in college, one in each year he pitched. His no-hitter in 1972 against North Carolina Central included 25 strikeouts.
As a freshman in 1972, Holland led the nation in strikeouts (143) and was second in ERA (0.54). The following year, NC A&T’s last in the NAIA, he recorded an ERA of 1.03 and added another 102 strikeouts. Though the Aggies moved up to NCAA status, Holland continued to dominate the competition during the next two years with a 0.95 ERA and 105 strikeouts in 1974, and a nation-leading 0.26 ERA and 118 strikeouts in 1975.
Holland was a two-time NAIA All-American in 1972 and 1973. He was named to the MEAC Hall of Fame in 1993.
- Compiled an 824-546 record in 28 years at JSU
- Won 12 conference championships
- Teams advanced to the NCAA tournament three times
- Named NAIA District Coach of the Year twice and SWAC Coach of the Year eight times
- Sent 52 players to the professional ranks including Dennis “Oil Can” Boyd, Marvin Freeman, Wes Chamberlain, Earl Sanders and Dave Clark
- In 2003 became the first African-American to be inducted into the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame
- Inducted into the SWAC Hall of Fame in 2005 and the JSU Sports Hall of Fame in 1985.
- Hit .352 as a junior in 1975, earning All-Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference first-team honors
- As a sophomore in 1974, finished third in NCAA Division II with .41 doubles per game and 10th in slugging percentage
- Earned All-SIAC second-team honors in 1974
- Led team in hits, doubles, home runs and RBIs in 1974 and 1975
- Led team in runs scored in 1973 and 1974
- Led team in stolen bases in 1974
- His FAMU squad collected a huge victory in 1974 against the University of Miami Hurricanes, which finished their season ranked second in the country and participated in the College World Series.
- During his three years at Florida A&M, Dawson-led squads registered big wins in three of the four games played against the perennial national power Miami Hurricanes, and the Rattlers’ doubleheader sweep of Miami in 1973 was one of the highlights of his college years.
- Selected by the Montreal Expos in the 11th round (250th player overall) of the 1975 Major League Baseball
- Inducted into National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, in 2010
- Four-time All-Southwestern Athletic Conference
- Two-time first-team NAIA All-American outfielder (1966 & 1967)
- As a sophomore in 1965, Barnes finished fourth in the country hitting a robust .506. He also ranked amongst the NAIA leaders in home runs (7) and runs batted in (41).
- In 1967, hit .436 with eight doubles and 26 RBIs
- Led Southern to the 1966 NAIA World Series, batting .417 with 5 RBIs in four games
- Two-time NAIA All-American in football (1965 & 1966)
- Drafted in the sixth round by Los Angeles Dodgers in 1965 – played linebacker for 11 years, three in the AFL and eight in the NFL.
- Three-time All-Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in 1973, 1974 and 1975
- Received honors at both pitcher and DH
- 22-9 career record with 384 strikeouts, only 64 walks and a 1.51 ERA in 251 innings
- In 1975, posted a 0.98 ERA and struck out 160 batters to lead all Division II pitchers
- Hit .404 as a sophomore in 1974, then led the team with a .431 average and .718 slugging percentage as a junior in 1975
- Pitched parts of 10 season in the Major Leagues with the New York Mets, Toronto Blue Jays, San Diego Padres and Minnesota Twins
- Served as the head coach at Southern University for 13 years
- His teams won eight Southwestern Athletic Conference championships outright and shared one more title
- According to official NCAA records, Lee’s overall record was 172-35 for an .831 winning percentage. As recorded in the NCAA record book through 2020, Lee has the highest lifetime winning percentage of anyone in the country with a minimum of 10 years as a head coach at a four-year institution.
- In 1959, led Southern to the NAIA National Championship
- First and only national baseball title won by an HBCU institution
- The following year (1960), Lee again led Southern to the NAIA national tournament and finished third
- In 1961, was named the NAIA National Coach of the Year
- Elected to the NAIA Hall of Fame in 1967
Cador compiled a 913-597-1 record in 33 seasons (1984-2017) guiding the Southern University Jaguars, building one of the most successful Historically Black College/University (HBCU) programs in the nation. In his time at Southern, the Jaguars captured two HBCU national championships in 2003 and 2005, 14 Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) championships and made 11 NCAA tournament appearances, including the first win in an NCAA Regional by an HBCU program. He is a 13-time SWAC Coach of the Year, producing 10 All-Americans and 62 drafted players. Cador played for Southern from 1970 to 1973 and is a member of the SWAC Hall of Fame and Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame.
Weeks put together two of the most outstanding consecutive seasons by any player in NCAA history. The second baseman led the nation in hitting in both 2002 (.495) and 2003 (.479) for Roger Cador’s Southern squad. In his final season in 2003, he hit 16 home runs and drove in 66 RBI while averaging 1.61 runs per game. The year before, he scored 63 runs, hit a Southern record 20 home runs and drove in 96. He notched Southwestern Athletic Conference Player of the Year and consensus All-America honors in each of his last two campaigns. He helped lead Southern to a nation’s best winning percentage (.863) and 44-7 record in 2003.
A former Spartan NCAA Division II All-American in 1968 (batting .380 as a sophomore, .438 as a junior and .406 as a senior and leading the country in doubles per game), Marty Miller began a 33-year coaching career at his alma mater in 1973. Over that period, coach Miller accumulated a record of 718-543-3 for a .569 winning percentage. In the 24 seasons Miller coached teams in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) before moving to the Mideastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) in 1997, his Norfolk State squads won 17 conference championships. In one stretch, Miller won eight straight titles. Miller led his teams to 12 post- season appearances and was named the CIAA Coach of the Year 15 times. He produced six All-Americans and 22 of his former players signed pro contracts. Miller is a member of both the Norfolk State and CIAA Hall of Fame and was the Athletic Director of Norfolk State from 2004 to 2020.
43 years as Grambling State head coach, Three SWAC Championships
A Grambling State legend, Wilbert Ellis spent 43 years coaching the Tigers, assuming the head coaching role in 1977 upon the retirement of R.W.E. Jones. Ellis amassed a 701-478-2 career record in 26 seasons as head coach, retiring following the 2003 season. Ellis, who had his No. 31 jersey retired, led GSU to three SWAC Championships (1983, 1984, 1985) and guided the Tigers to three NCAA Tournament appearances.
Ellis is a member of the American Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame, the SWAC Hall of Fame, the Grambling Legends Hall of Fame and the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame. Ellis also received the Louisiana Sports Ambassador Award, created by the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame’s parent organization, the Louisiana Sports Writers Association, for long-term exemplary contributions to the perception of Louisiana by an individual who has ties to the state’s sports landscape. He has been a trusted advisor for generations of presidents, athletic directors and coaches at Grambling, and in community and governmental affairs. Ellis was instrumental in the establishment of the Eddie G. Robinson Museum in Grambling, and the university’s Grambling Legends Sports Hall of Fame.