Baseball • 2006 Universit University of South Carolina Upstate y of ...

USC Upstate Hall of FameJohn DaurityHead Baseball Coach1986-91Hall of Fame Class of 2005Kenny DicksonOutfielder1986-87Hall of Fame Class of 2006John Daurity is the third member of the baseball program to beinducted into the USC Upstate Athletics Hall of Fame. His inductionis as much for setting a standard in building a program as it is for theon-field accomplishments of his teams.Though baseball existed at the University in the early 1970’s as aclub sport, Daurity assumed the head coaching position of the firstvarsity baseball program at the school in 1986. He remained headcoach until his departure after the 1991 season. In his six years at thehelm of the program, he tallied a 181-89-1 record and a winningpercentage of .669. He coached the other two members of the Hallof Fame from the baseball program: Chris Hawkins and Doug Keelan.He is the winningest coach in the history of the program, both in winsand winning percentage.Daurity coached the team to four 30-win seasons in his six yearswith the program and coached eight players who went on to signprofessional contracts. Despite losing All-American catcher DougKeelan, pitcher Chris Hawkins, and starting third baseman Chris Sturgillfrom the 1987 squad, Daurity turned in what is arguably his bestcoaching year in 1988 when the team started the season with aschool record 18 wins and finished with a 35-10 record.Daurity played baseball at Appalachian State, then a member ofthe NAIA. He was the team captain of the 1969 squad that advancedto the NAIA World Series and finished eight nationally. Previously,he was a member of the American Legion Post 9 squad that won the1965 American Legion World Series.Daurity began his coaching career at Union High School in Union,SC and led the squad to the 1970 State 3A State Championship. Hemoved to Northwestern High School in Rock Hill, SC a year later tostart the baseball program there and then moved to Lancaster HighSchool in Lancaster, SC in 1975 where he was the head coach.While at Lancaster, Daurity was named the school’s Educator of theYear in 1979.Daurity moved to the college ranks as a head coach at WoffordCollege and coached at the Spartanburg school from 1981-85 beforeleaving to start the varsity program at then-USC Spartanburg.Between his days at the two colleges in Spartanburg, Daurity wonthree NAIA District Six Coach of the Year awards, two at USC Upstateand one at Wofford.After leaving the Spartanburg campus, Daurity served as the headcoach at Campbell University from 1992-95 before returning to thehigh school level as a teacher at Harnett Central High School inAngier, NC. Currently, he is a teacher and head baseball coach atSocastee High School in Myrtle Beach, SC, a position he has heldsince 1997.Daurity was inducted as a charter member of the Charlotte, NCBaseball Hall of Fame in 1982. He and his wife, Janet, have threesons; Ty, Joel, and Paul.Kenny Dickson is the third baseball player and the fourth personaffiliated with the baseball program to be inducted into the USCUpstate Athletics Hall of Fame.Dickson, thought by many to be the best player in the group thatstarted the inagural varsity baseball program at the University in1986, played for two years from 1986-87 after transferring from AndersonCollege, which was then a two-year school. When he finished, heleft his mark on a number of offensive records.Dickson finished his career with a .405 batting average with 123hits including 32 doubles, 25 homeruns, and one triple. He collected94 RBIs and 103 runs scored and had a slugging percentage of .759.He had a career-high 13 game hitting streak in 1986 and collected12 game-winning hits during his two-year career. He ranked seventhnationally in the NAIA for hits per game and was 12th nationally fordoubles per game in 1986.At one point in time, Dickson owned five career, seven singleseason,and five single-game records. He currently holds USC Upstate’s all-time record for batting average at .405. He ranks secondall-time in homeruns, second in slugging percentage, eighth indoubles, eighth in total bases and ninth in RBIs. It should be notedthat he ranked first in homeruns, doubles, total bases, and RBIs uponcompletion of his career but has since been passed by people whohave spent more than two years in the program. In addition, Dicksonmissed 16 games of the 1987 season with a broken arm.Dickson owns three single-season records at USC Upstate. He hita school record 20 doubles in 1986, collected 36 extra base-hits in1986, and tallied 146 total bases in 1986. He also owns USC Upstate’ssingle-game records with five runs scored against Furman in 1987and three doubles against The Citadel in 1987. In total, his nameappears 17 times on the career and single-season season Top 10lists.A Team Captain in 1987, Dickson was highly decorated for hisplay on the field, earning All-District Six honors and in 1986 was aDistrict Six Player of the Week selection twice. He was drafted by theHouston Astros in the 15th round of the 1987 Major League BaseballDraft and played two seasons in the organization. He started out inAuburn, NY, and was in the midst of a solid Rookie League seasonwhen he broke his wrist. After having a bone graft from his hip toreplace the bone in his wrist, he attempted a comeback in 1988 withthe Asheville Tourists, but the injury was too much to overcome,ending his young professional career.Dickson graduated from the University in 1990 with a bachelor’sdegree in business administration. He and his wife, Page, have twochildren, son Matthew and daughter Page. He works at QS/1 DataSystems as a hardware maintenance manager and has been with thecompany for nearly 16 years.50