Hal Baird and Sammy Dunn Tribute, 2021 Hall of Fame Class

Last year’s virtual convention forced us to postpone the Hall of Fame banquet. In order to celebrate the 2021 class we did a series of podcasts with the inductees. We are using Christmas break here to reissue last year’s episodes to once again celebrate the 2021 class. We are so excited for the Chicago convention and to be able to honor the 2021 and 2022 classes at the Hall of Fame banquet on Friday January 7th. We can’t thank all of you enough for your continued trust and support. I hope you all enjoy listening to these legends of the game. This week we begin a new series of ABCA Podcast episodes featuring members of the ABCA Hall of Fame Class of 2021. We have a special one to start with newly elected Hal Baird along with UAB head coach Casey Dunn, who is representing his father, Sammy Dunn, who passed away in 2004. Baird spent the majority of his head coaching career at Auburn University, where he left as Auburn’s all-time winningest coach after 16 seasons. His tenure included two College World Series appearances, two 50-win seasons and nine regional appearances. He previously was head coach at East Carolina for five seasons, leading the Pirates to three NCAA Regionals, and finished with 779 victories between the two schools. Sammy Dunn was one of the most successful baseball coaches in the history of Alabama high school baseball, leading Vestavia Hills High School to 647 victories and nine Alabama 6A state titles in 27 seasons. At the time of his passing in 2004, he was Alabama's all-time winningest coach. Casey Dunn spent 16 seasons as head coach at Samford before being named UAB's head coach this past summer and had the honor of playing for both his father as well as Coach Baird. The ABCA Podcast is presented by Netting Pros. Netting Professionals are improving programs one facility at a time, specializing in the design, fabrication and installation of custom netting for backstops, batting cages, dugouts, bp screens and ball carts. They also design and install digital graphic wall padding windscreen, turf, turf protectors, dugout benches, dugout cubbies and more.