Brandon inducted into NAIA Hall of Fame
By Justin Bates
Anderson University baseball coach Don Brandon was inducted into the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Hall of Fame Jan. 4, 2002, in Orlando, Fla.
“I’m honored because so many of my friends over the years have come from my NAIA experience,” Brandon says. “Some of the greatest coaches I know are members of the NAIA Hall of Fame.”
The legendary Ravens coach has won 902 games in his 29 years at AU and will be back this spring to begin his 30th season on the bench. The university was a member of the NAIA until 1992 and Brandon amassed 644 of his wins from 1972-92.
During the Ravens heyday in the NAIA (1979-92), they won 542 games in 14 years for an average of nearly 39 wins a season, including a pair of World Series appearances (1984, 1987). Anderson won seven Hoosier-Buckeye Conference titles and three Indiana Collegiate Athletic Conference championships while a member of the NAIA. AU also advanced to the NCCAA World Series in 1991 and 1992, finishing first and second, respectively.
The transition to NCAA in 1993 was a smooth one as the Ravens advanced to the NCAA Div. III World Series that year and finished fifth.
“It wasn’t a surprise,” Brandon says of the 1993 team’s success. “I always knew that getting to the NAIA World Series was harder than getting to the Div. III World Series.”
Overall, Brandon has won 16 regular season conference titles, six conference tournament championships and has six appearances in various World Series. He has been named Coach of the Year in the conference/district nine times. He has six 40-win seasons, 17 30-win seasons and 23 20-win seasons in 29 years.
“Don Brandon has made an enormous difference in the lives of hundreds of outstanding student athletes over the course of his rich career,” AU President James Edwards says. “His wins and losses are only a small part of the story of this sports mentor. Anderson University is so pleased that his career has been recognized by his induction in the NAIA Hall of Fame.”
Just because he’s in a pair of Hall of Fame’s doesn’t mean Brandon is ready to retire. There are still more milestones to reach and student-athletes to teach. He needs only 98 wins for 1,000, but that’s not his primary focus in coaching.
“I don’t look at it that way,” Brandon said of wins and losses. “I’m more concerned about fulfilling my ministry at Anderson University until my retirement years.”
Brandon came to Anderson in the fall of 1959 from Cullman, Ala., and graduated in 1963 with a bachelor’s degree in physical education. He earned his master’s from Ball State University in 1967 and his doctorate from Springfield, Mass., in 1976.
The NAIA induction comes less than four years after his election into the Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame on Jan. 23, 1998.
