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Ken Dugan grew up in the mill area of Huntsville Alabama, playing baseball on
the mill town league team
that his father, "Home Run" Dugan organized
for the kids on thier block to keep them out of trouble.
He eventually
made the journey to Lipscomb University where he was a true baseball star, setting
hitting and slugging records that stand today,
and he was recognized as the
team MVP as a sophomore, junior and senior.
In the summers, he would hitchike
to Nashville to play in the summer league teams at Shelby Park,
where the weekend
games drew thousands of spectators.
After military
service overseas, where he coached his Army post team to the European Championship,
Ken learned from brother Jerry that the Lipscomb coaching job was available
and he returned to his alma mater in 1960
to begin his coaching career - and the rest, as they say, is history.
By the
time that Ken retired from coaching in 1996, his teams had amassed a record
of 1137-450 ,
had won two national championships and countless league, district
and regional championships;
he had written 4 baseball instructional books, been
inducted into 5 halls of fame
and coached the U.S. Pan American World Games
baseball team and the Belgian National team.
His two
sons, Mike and Kurt, played on his Lipscomb teams as did his successor,
Coach
Mel Brown and former Lipscomb Coach Wynn Fletcher's father, Tom.
Ken Dugan
and his players spread the prestige of Lipscomb baseball and the name of Lipscomb
University across the country.
It is impossible to overstate how valuable his
service to the university was.
Men like
Ken come along infrequently, leave a great legacy
and forever change people's lives.
audio
bio
(2.4Mg, .mp3 file)
(music-bobby ogdin, narration-jonathan seamon)
House resolution 551:
A RESOLUTION to honor and commend David Lipscomb
University baseball Coach Ken Dugan on the
occasion of his retirement and to designate April
27, 1996 as "Coach Ken Dugan Day" .