Coach Walker Headed to the Hall of Fame

OTTUMWA --- Veteran Indian Hills Community College baseball coach Cam Walker is a member of the 2012 Baseball Hall of Fame class announced this week by the NJCAA Baseball Coaches Association.

Walker will be inducted into the Hall of Fame at a banquet at this year’s NJCAA Division I World Series in Grand Junction, Col. in May.

Walker is ready to begin his 20th year as the head coach of the Falcons, the longest head-coaching stint in school history.

He will join two former IHCC coaches in the NJCAA Hall of Fame. Pat Daugherty was inducted into the Hall in 1984 and Rick Mathews entered in 1998.

Walker’s Hall of Fame credentials include an overall record of 746-359, an average of nearly 40 wins a season. He has produced over 60 players who have been drafted or signed professional contracts.

Since taking over as head coach at IHCC, Walker has taken seven teams to the NJCAA World Series. He led his first Falcons squad to Grand Junction in his inaugural season in 1993 after serving as pitching coach at Indian Hills, his alma mater, for four years under Mathews.

Walker calls his Hall of Fame selection “exciting and humbling,” saying “when I received the call I immediately thought of Pat Daugherty and Rick Mathews and what an honor it was that I was able to follow in the footsteps of coaches that had been mentors to me and had such an impact on my career.”

“I also thought of the amazing opportunity I had been given by Lyle Hellyer and Jim Lindenmayer and the resources Indian Hills and Centerville have given to our program to make it such a success.”

Walker has been named Region 11 as well as North District Coach of the Year eight times and in six of those seasons he was also chosen as the ABCA Louisville Slugger Coach of the Year.

Eight of Walker’s former players have advanced to play in the major leagues and many others have been placed on the 40-man rosters of major league clubs. Well over one hundred other players have graduated and/or transferred and gone on to NCAA and NAIA programs throughout the country, furthering their education and baseball careers.

Walker said, “This is really not an honor for me as much as it is for all the people who have touched my life and made me who I am by encouraging me, giving me opportunities, teaching and supporting me and believing in me.”

He concluded by saying, “I’m excited for what this means for our program and the opportunity I will have to represent all those people on May 25 in Grand Junction. It would make me even prouder to be able to look out and see the Indian Hills Falcon baseball team and coaches in the audience that evening.”

The IHCC head coach, a native of the Canadian province of Manitoba, came to Indian Hills in 1980 as a pitcher and eventually transferred to Western Kentucky University. He signed with the Milwaukee Brewers in 1982 and was a California League All-Star in the Brewers’ organization. He also played on two minor league teams that won league championships.

As a player, Walker was a member of the 1981 Canadian National Team that participated in the InterContinental Cup. He was inducted into the Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame in 2005.

In addition to his duties with Indian Hills, Walker has previously served as an affiliate scout for the San Diego Padres and as a minor league pitching coach with the Colorado Rockies.

Walker’s 20th IHCC team will open its season at Maple Woods CC on March 3.