Ed Rall, Centre
(by Dwayne Hanberry, SCAC Interim Commissioner)

Ed Rall (1968-1971) announced his presence with authority 20 years before Bull Durham’s Nuke LaLoosh even contemplated the concept.

An 18-year old freshman right fielder for Centre College and batting leadoff in his team’s first game of the 1968 CAC Baseball Tournament, Rall went 5-for-5 with two runs scored and a RBI to lead the Colonels to a 16-7 victory over Southwestern at Memphis (now Rhodes College).

“Oh wow,” said Rall from his home in Danville. “I can remember that day like it was yesterday.”

“I don’t think I hit one single ball hard – they were all seeing-eyed singles. But that was back when all of us were swinging wooden bats and I think I broke a few that day.”

Centre advanced to the 1968 title game against Washington (Mo.) and, displaying his versatility, Rall moved from the outfield to the mound as the Colonels’ starting pitcher. But there would be no storybook ending for Rall and his teammates as the Bears took home the conference crown with a 15-7 win.

”Wash U was on a different level than everybody else,” said Rall. “They were kind of the Trinity and the Southwestern of their era. Everybody knew they were the team to beat.”
 

Despite the loss, Rall was named to the CAC All-Conference Team for his performance in the 1968 tournament – the first of three all-CAC honors earned during his career on the diamond for Centre (he was also all-CAC in 1969 and 1971).

”Yea, back then, we didn’t really play each other during the regular season,” continued Rall. “We would maybe play Sewanee in a game or two, but all-conference was based on your performance at the tournament.”

In those days, the CAC was a men’s-only conference and there were just five schools in the league, so the logistics of hosting a Spring Sports Festival were not nearly as complex as those that schools faced in the SCAC years.

Being able to host everything on campus meant that other student-athletes, when not participating themselves, could bounce from one venue to the other to watch other action.

”We’d go watch tennis matches and the track meet in between games,” said Rall. “It was fun to go watch your classmates compete.”

Eighteen years after his playing career ended, Rall returned to the Centre dugout as the school’s head baseball coach in 1989. By the time he left in 2004, Rall had accumulated 231 wins in 17 seasons to become the school’s all-time winningest coach (sixth in SCAC history).

Over that span, Rall once again got to enjoy the Festival experience, but this time, from a different perspective.

”Oh, I remember some great moments. Like in 1991, when we played in Memphis against Millsaps at the Memphis Chicks’ minor league ballpark (McCarver Field),” said Rall. “We had a kid, Jimmy Kirk, and he hit one completely over the offices beyond the outfield wall. One of the longest balls I’ve ever seen hit.”
 

“We really played Millsaps tough that day (8-7 loss) and as it turned out, that was for the CAC championship.”

The following day, it rained all day long and the tournament ended with Centre going 3-1 and tying for second place.

”They were going to let us play at Memphis State, but man, it rained and rained and we just couldn’t play. We sat there all day long and watched it rain.”

One of Rall’s most vibrant memories of the Festival didn’t necessarily involve a particular game – it involved the school’s legendary head men’s basketball coach and athletics director, the late Tom Bryant.

”Back then, the Festival was almost always the second weekend in May,” said Rall. “Unlike now, most schools didn’t graduate until late May or early June. But for some reason, one year they moved it to the first weekend in May.”

”Well that coincided with the Kentucky Derby and Tom Bryant always went to the Derby. Since Tom was AD, he had to go the Festival because of all the meetings and such, but man, was he mad. That may have been as upset as I’ve ever seen Tom, and that’s saying something. I can still picture him stomping around his office about having to miss the Derby that year.”