Ritch Price Inducted into CCCBCA Hall of Fame
May 28, 2008
LAWRENCE, Kan. –
Kansas baseball head coach Ritch Price has been inducted into the California Community College Baseball Coaches Association’s Hall of Fame. Price attended his Hall of Fame induction on Friday at a banquet in <?xml:namespace prefix=”st1″ ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags”?>Fresno, Calif.<?xml:namespace prefix=”o” ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office”?>
“Nobody in America respects the game more than I do,” said Price, who has coached at KU since 2003. “Many members of the CCCBCA Hall of Fame were my mentors when I was a young coach starting my career. I’m truly humbled to be a member of this great fraternity.”
Price was selected to the Hall of Fame with former Grossmont College head coach Ed Olsen and the late Dick Selma, who was an assistant coach at Fresno City College. Price earned the Hall of Fame induction for his eight seasons spent at De Anza Community College in Cupertino, Calif.
As the head coach at De Anza from 1986 to 1994, Price guided the Dons to four conference titles, and was named the Coast Conference `Coach of the Year’ four times. Sixty-one of his players earned scholarships to NCAA Division I institutions, while 96 percent transferred to four-year institutions. During his eight years at De Anza, Price amassed an overall record of 243-112 (.685 winning percentage).
After the 1994 season, Price was named the head coach at Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo and coached there for eight years before being named the head coach at Kansas prior to the 2003 season.
At Kansas, Price has guided the Jayhawks to 30-plus win seasons in five of his first six years, including a 30-27 mark this past year. The veteran head coach led the program to its first conference championship in over 50 years when the Jayhawks captured the Big 12 Championship in 2006.
Price has seen 23 of his players at KU either drafted or signed by professional organizations and has several prospects poised to go in next week’s major league baseball amateur draft.
