After a second straight NAIA World Series berth, William Carey baseball isn’t showing any signs of slowing down under 39th-year head coach Bobby Halford.
The skipper is the second all-time winningest college baseball coach in Mississippi history. After winning his 1,337th game as the head coach at Carey, he sits just 36 wins behind Ron Polk’s all-time mark.
Before joining the staff at William Carey in 1972, Halford wore Crusader black and red as a player under legends John O’Keefe and John Stephenson. He traded his cleats for a clipboard in 1976, then took over as the head man in 1986. Though the world has changed since Halford was first hired in Hattiesburg and Gerald Ford sat in the Oval Office, the Meridian native has carried the mantle of hard-wrought success with understated aplomb.
On Thursday, William Carey Athletics cut the ribbon on their largest athletic facility upgrade in eight years – the Bobby Halford Fieldhouse. It was another jewel in the dazzling mountain of success Halford has amassed with the program. But for him, it was unexpected.
“It was a surprise,” Halford said. “I’m just really appreciative of all the people that made this possible. I’m just blessed. It’s one of the best dressing areas in college baseball, especially at our level. We have facilities as good or better than many Division I programs and we’re proud of that.”
The Crusaders leading the way at the NAIA level is no new thing, Halford explained. Carey had lights at their park before almost anyone in college baseball in the late 1960s. Then, the program was led by led by John O’Keefe, who won the program’s first national championship in 1969. It would be just seven years later that Halford would join the William Carey coaching staff. He’s been there, winning, ever since.
In his 38th year as a head coach and 47th on staff for the Crusaders, Halford was named NAIA ABCA Region Coach of the Year. The award isn’t anything new in what has become a rather long list of superlatives for the coach. He’s learned that achievements such as the award and back-to-back world series runs take a village to accomplish.
“It all starts with the players,” Halford said. “If you don’t have the players, it doesn’t matter. But also, having a great staff. Ben Smith, Eric Ebers, and Dylan Morgan – those three guys put in a lot of time and effort. Of course, the administration has played a huge part with Ben Burnett and Tommy King. And then before that Larry Kennedy, Ralph Noonkester – I mean I could go on and on. It’s just a niche that we have here. Our deal is service to our students. As a Christian school, we’re called to do that and that’s just who we are.”
Even after a nearly 40-year run at the helm, Halford still understands and feels the pressure that comes with the previous success at the program. The task in year 39, as it was in the first 38, is to continue the success in a viscerally competitive college baseball landscape.
“Each year is a challenge,” Halford said. “It’s a challenge to put a club out there that can play for a national championship. That standard was set back in 1969 and every time you go out there you can see that. It’s a motivator for me and for your players. These players and coaches that came before us really put us on the map. For me, personally, it’s about maintaining that and trying to do better.”
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