McLean named to Kansas Baseball Hall of Fame

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Sports

December 2, 2014 - 12:00 AM

Val McLean, who coached baseball at Allen Community College for 37 years before resigning last spring, has been named to the Kansas Baseball Hall of Fame.
Other inductees are Kansas City Royals general manager Dayton Moore, former Wichita State standout and major league manager Eric Wedge, another former WSU standout David Haas, who pitched in the 1990s for the Detroit Tigers, and the late Floyd “Smoky” Ford, who coached American Legion baseball in Pratt for more than 25 years and the first ever baseball coach at Pratt High School.
The honors were announced Nov. 25 by Dick Sanders, Kansas Baseball Hall of Fame president.
The men will be honored at a banquet and reception Jan. 24 at Hillside Christian Church in Wichita.

McLEAN WAS raised on a farm near the small town of Lewis in western Kansas.
He starred in basketball and football at Lewis High School, but the school did not have a baseball program.
During the summer, he would trek 45 miles to Dodge City to play American Legion baseball.
He played both basketball and baseball at Dodge City Community College before transferring to Fort Hays State University. McLean earned all-conference honors in baseball each of his college years.
He served as an assistant coach at Kansas State University before coming to Allen.
He holds a doctorate in counseling psychology and he served as Allen’s director of guidance. He taught personal development classes and is a licensed clinical professional counselor.
His counseling background led to the development of sports psychology and mental training for his Red Devil teams.

MCLEAN won 1,155 games over 37 seasons, including two trips to the NJCAA World Series in 1983 and 2000. His 1983 squad finished third in the nation.
His teams won the Jayhawk Conference seven times and the Eastern Regional seven times. His teams produced 10 All-Americans, 56 All-Region players and 89 All-Jayhawk Conference performers. Forty-eight players have signed professional contracts out of Allen, and just as many were drafted later out of four-year schools.
McLean has sent more than 500 players to four-year universities to play baseball.

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