Tim Wallace selected to NJCAA Hall of Fame
Spartanburg Methodist College head coach Tim Wallace is going into the NJCAA Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame.
In his 23rd season as SMC head coach and second as athletics director, Wallace has taken the Pioneers to 11 region championships and made six trips, including back-to-back in 2012 and 2013, to the Junior College World Series in Grand Junction, Colo. The latest Hall of Fame class will be inducted there on May 23 prior to the start of the tournament.
Wallace is 987-307 at SMC and his winning percentage of .763 is among the best for active coaches in all divisions of the NJCAA.
"Coach Wallace is a winning coach. But beyond that, he is a coach who doesn't take shortcuts," SMC president Colleen Perry Keith said. "He does things the right way and he expects the same of his players. … His success comes not from what SMC is providing him – he coaches at one of the smallest colleges in the NJCAA with one of the smallest budgets – but from his integrity, his determination, his commitment to his players, his principled leadership and his knowledge of baseball."
Wallace is also a member of the halls of fame at SMC and Wofford College, where he was a standout player as a catcher who batted .456 and had a consecutive-game hitting streak of 37, still school records. Wallace was a second-round draft pick of the St. Louis Cardinals and played seven professional seasons, an all-star in triple A, before become a batting champion and home run leader in Italy.
Lon Joyce, who coached SMC for 14 seasons before becoming a scout for the Los Angeles Dodgers and turning the Pioneers' program over to Wallace in 1991, entered the NJCAA Hall of Fame in 2012. Joyce (473-170) took two teams to the World Series.
Wallace led SMC to Region 10 championships in 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 and 2013. Last year's team was ranked No. 1 in the country headed into the World Series, took home a third-place trophy and finished 48-15.
Six times he has been named NJCAA Eastern District coach of year, garnering the honor in 2001, 2003, 2007, 2009 (school-record 55 wins), 2012 and 2013.
Among his other personal achievements: regional coach of year (seven times), league coach of the year (five times) and Louisville Slugger coach of year (four times).
Wallace played at Lancaster High School before one season at Baptist College and two at Wofford, winning five straight team MVP honors during that span. After his playing career, he returned to Wofford to complete his bachelor's degree and then earned a master's from Gardner-Webb University.
He coached the Spartanburg American Legion team from 2003-05 and won two state championships.
Article courtesy of Todd Shanesy and Upstate Herald Journal
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The NJCAA Baseball Coaches Association has announced its 2014 Baseball Hall of Fame class.
This year's inductees include current head coaches Eric Brown of Suffolk County (N.Y.), Steve Ruzich of South Suburban (Ill.) and Tim Wallace of Spartanburg Methodist (S.C.). The 2014 class also includes previous NJCAA Division II World Series assistant tournament director Thomas Rogers of Millington, Tenn.
The four inductees will be honored at the pre-tournament banquet of the 2014 NJCAA Division I Baseball World Series on May 23rd in Grand Junction, Colo.
