(Tucson, AZ) Former Pima Community College baseball coach Rich Alday received a tremendous honor from the American Baseball Coaches Association.
Alday, who coached the Aztecs from 1974-1989 and 2018, was selected to the ABCA Hall of Fame Class of 2025.
The ABCA Hall of Fame Banquet present by C&H Baseball, took place at the Gaylord Resort and Convention Center in Washington D.C. on Friday. Alday was inducted along with Dave Jarvis (Belmont University (Tenn.)), Dave Johnson (Ephrata High School (Wash.)), Costa “Pop” Kittles (Florida A&M University), Charlie Migl (St. Mary’s University, Texas), Dunn Muramaru (Mid-Pacific Institute, Hawai’i), Jim Schlossnagle (University of Texas) and Larry Turner (Owasso High School (Okla.).
Photo – Pima Aztec Athletics
The inaugural Hall of Fame class was inducted in 1966 and has more than 350 individual members honored. A candidate qualifies after serving as a head coach and being a member of the ABCA for more than 15 years. Also, “made professional and personal contributions to the ABCA, have significantly contributed to the advancement of baseball at the local, national or international level and should be presentative of high moral character and ethical standards, excellence and leadership,” according to the ABCA Hall of Fame nomination criteria.
Alday accumulated 517 wins after 17 combined seasons as the Aztecs Baseball Coach. He led the Aztecs to an NJCAA National Tournament Runner-Up finish in 1985, five-time ACCAC Conference champions and was a three-time Coach of the Year recipient (1981, 1983 and 1985).
He coached the University of New Mexico Lobos baseball program to 515 wins over 18 seasons. He also amassed 107 wins and two state championships for Ironwood Ridge High School softball in three seasons.
Alday served as a bench coach for Team USA in their gold medal victory in Seoul, South Korea in 1988 and was an auxiliary assistant coach for their bronze medal team in Atlanta for the 1996 games.
Alday, a 48-year Lifetime ABCA member, was named No. 40 in the Arizona Daily Star’s list of Tucson’s Top 50 Athletic Figures of the 20th Century. He was inducted in the Pima County Hall of Fame in 1994 and the Pima Community College Athletics Hall of Fame in 2013.
Alday passed away on January 6, 2021.
“Coach Alday was not just a great college baseball coach but was an even better human being, Pima Athletic Director and Baseball Head Coach Ken Jacome said. “Coach was my mentor and gave me an opportunity to coach at the (NCAA) Division I level with him at the University of New Mexico. The program at Pima owes so much to him and we honor him regularly.”
Press Release courtesy of Pima Aztec Athletics – Raymond Suarez
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