CCU’s College World Series success built over decades

In the early spring of 1967, I was stationed at Keesler Field in Biloxi where my dad had been a tail gunning instructor for the B-17 about 20 years earlier. I was there for ground radio operator tech school, but most of my afternoons were spent on the baseball field.

The Keesler AFB Baseball Team was pooled from the 37,000 guys stationed at that air base. I was one of the few guys who made the team who had not played any level of professional baseball.

Another fellow in that category was our center fielder and coach, a fellow named John Vrooman.

Being stationed in the sunny south made for a great opponents list for early season visits. We played some of the best college teams in the nation, including Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Michigan, Illinois and many others. A few years later, Coach Vrooman and I were stationed at Myrtle Beach Air Force base together and maintained our friendship well.

Fast forward a few more years, and John was a professor of history and the head baseball coach for a fledgling program at Coastal Carolina. I remember attending CCU baseball games when 15 people was a good crowd – at a field reminiscent of the one I played on for my small high school team. There was no stadium or fancy seating, just a small town field with very talented kids playing the game we all loved.

Fast forward a few more years, and a fellow named Larry Carr became head baseball coach at CCU. Larry gained some national attention for Coastal’s program with his coaching prowess and a hitting technique he started that involved batting practice with big rubber tires chained to the backstop. The hitters would build strength and stamina striking these tires with their bats – a technique picked up on by many other programs.

One of the kids striking those tires with vigor was a scrappy young man named Gary Gilmore. He was one of many talented fellows who brought great recognition to CCU’s program. Coach Carr would bring the kids in to my pizza joint after the games. They were so talented but a bit cavalier and short on discipline. No one then would have thought that a baseball genius was being created in that Gilmore kid.

Then, as Coach Carr moved on, Coach Vrooman returned for a second term at the helm, running from 1986 to 1995 when Coastal began competing at the Division 1 level. The Chants won six consecutive conference titles under his leadership until he retired from coaching and had the foresight to hire Gilmore, fifteen years after his graduation from Coastal.

Gary was so patient, developing talent and a great staff while gradually selling the university on investing in the baseball program – big time.

And now that they truly are in the Big Time at the College World Series, I can see Gilly with his heart out there in each comment and facial expression. It is no wonder that his kids are saying that they “would die for him.”

This wonderful evolution of CCU’s baseball program took many years to develop, and most of it was due to Coach Vrooman’s vision, and to Coach Gilmore’s loyalty to the university, his perseverance, the work ethic he instills in his players and, above all, his character.

What a just reward they are finally receiving.

Go Chants!

The writer lives in Murrells Inlet.

This story was originally published June 29, 2016 at 6:48 AM with the headline "CCU’s College World Series success built over decades."