Roger Coryell

Roger Coryell, a 1965 DeWitt graduate, earned ten varsity letters in football, basketball, and baseball. He was All-League as a junior and senior in basketball and helped DeWitt win a Class C District Championship in 1965. A four-year varsity letter-winner on the baseball diamond, he helped lead the Panthers to four consecutive league championships as a third baseman and pitcher. He still holds three Panther pitching records for throwing a perfect-game in 1964, recording 19 strikeouts in a 7-inning game in 1965, and striking out 122 batters in one season (in just 67 innings). Coryell continued his baseball career at Eastern Michigan University from 1968-1970. He was the starting pitcher in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) national title game in 1970, and following the program’s first-ever National Championship, he signed a contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates, but a shoulder injury kept him from playing professionally. As EMU’s top assistant for the next 16 years, he helped guide the team to two College World Series appearances, finishing second in the nation in 1976 and fifth in 1975. As EMU’s head coach from 1988-2007, Coryell would become the second-winningest coach in program history with a career overall record of 544-560-2, including a Mid-American Athletic Conference (MAC) record of 300-264-1, the most MAC wins by an EMU coach all-time. The two-time MAC Coach of the Year won a MAC Regular-Season Championship in 2007, the MAC Tournament Championship in 2003, and was an NCAA Qualifier in 2003. He guided over 80 players into professional ranks, coached six All-Americans, two MAC Players of the Year, and three MAC Pitchers of the Year. In 2004, Coryell was inducted into the E-Club Athletic Hall of Fame at Eastern Michigan University. Coryell worked as a professional scout for the Texas Rangers from 2009 until his untimely passing in 2018.