“2-6”

(#26)

***Breaking News: (January 18, 2023) The Coach has been selected for induction into the Mississippi Association of Community College Sports Hall of Fame. The induction ceremony will be this summer. Congrats! Well deserved and it’s about time.***

George McQuitter left his mark of success on two baseball programs that eventually found success as one.

George coached at Utica Junior College for nine seasons, starting in 1980, inheriting a team that was 0-21 the year before. Within two years, the Bulldogs won a division championship followed by two more by the end of his fourth season.

His best season at Utica was in 1985 when the Bulldogs finished 49-9, won the South Division Championship and were runners-up to East Mississippi Junior College in the State Championship Series.

His Utica teams went 284-145 and he sent 70 players to play at four-year universities. Another 24 played professional baseball with three chosen in the first round of the MLB draft.

He coached in the Junior College All-Star Game in 1984 and 1988.

In 1989, the baseball programs at Raymond and Utica were merged as one team. George became the Associate Head Coach alongside me. In our first season, the Eagles finished 40-14, won the South Division Championship, the State Championship, the Region 23 Championship, the Eastern District Championship and became the first Mississippi Community/Junior College to play in the JUCO World Series in Grand Junction, Colorado.

Decades later, the 1989 team remains the only Mississippi team to win those four championships and play in Grand Junction in the same season.

McQuitter attended Jackson State University where he earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Mass Communications. He earned his Master’s Degree in Educational Technology in 1980 upon the start of his coaching career at Hinds.

He is a member of the Hinds Sports Hall of Fame at both Utica and Raymond.

His uniform number “26” was retired in a ceremony in Raymond in 2008 and displayed in his honor on the outfield fence at Joe G. Moss Field.