Gene Stephenson

In 1977, Wichita State hired Gene Stephenson to restart the baseball program after being dormant for seven years.

The Shockers never knew a losing season under Stephenson.  Four years after the restart of the program, his team played in the College World Series championship. His teams began to amass all-time NCAA Division I team and individual records quickly, including wins in a single season, 73, in 1982.

As one of only three coaches in NCAA Division I Baseball history to exceed 1500 wins, Stephenson’s teams won 1837 games during his 36-year head coaching tenure at WSU, averaging 51 wins.

Stephenson’s Shockers won 26 Missouri Valley Conference titles, earned 28 NCAA Tournament berths, were the runners-up in three of seven College World Series appearances.  His 1989 team won the College World Series.

Stephenson coached 55 All-American players and 27 Academic All-Americans, the most at any level of NCAA Baseball.  Among those honored were three national players of the year and one national pitcher of the year. 168 of his players signed professional baseball contracts with 35 having ascended to the MLB team level.  

Stephenson also raised $18M for the construction, operations and improvements of WSU’s Eck Stadium.

In 2014, Stephenson was elected to the National College Baseball Hall of Fame.