Voted into the NIU Athletics Hall of Fame as a single entity, these two storied squads continue to write more institutional history by becoming the first two sports teams enshrined in the same induction year. Achievement was no stranger to the 1950 and 1951 baseball Huskies.
"The 1950 and 1951 baseball groups are unique in Northern Illinois athletics history," wrote the late NIU Hall of Fame sports information director Bud Nangle years ago. "First of all, historically, few, if any, teams have repeated as conference champions here. Secondly, there hasn't been a more loyal team in terms of involvement with their alma mater and the current baseball program. When the Northern Illinois baseball program was resurrected in 1991, these gentlemen worked and worked to get the home facility named after their beloved, Hall of Fame head coach, Ralph McKinzie."
Coached by Hall of Famer Ralph McKinzie---a member of the charter Hall of Fame induction class in 1978, these two Northern Illinois contingents won back-to-back Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Association championships in 1950 and 1951. Including their coach, this group includes six previous individual Hall of Fame inductees---infielder-outfielder Sam Bedrosian, pitcher-first baseman Fran Cahill, athletic trainer Al Kranz, son and outfielder Jim McKinzie, and pitcher Jake Stap. Nangle, who covered the 1950 team as sports editor of the DeKalb Daily Chronicle and was an annual participant in their team reunions, would be the seventh Hall of Fame connection.
When Northern Illinois restarted its varsity baseball program in 1991, these 1950 & 1951 alums campaigned long and hard to name the on-campus facility Ralph McKinzie Field (1993) in the memory of their late head coach. They also contributed funds for new McKinzie Field dugouts and equipment. This loyal group has hosted team reunions from coast-to-coast (San Diego, Denver, Chicago, etc.) on an annual basis since 1970.
In 1950, NIU baseball finished 16-8 and 6-2 in IIAC play for "Coach Mac." The Huskies started strong with a 4-2 record on their spring trip---including a 12-11 and 3-2 doubleheader sweep of powerhouse Southern Illinois-Carbondale. Other 1950 highlights include a seven-game winning streak and two triumphs over arch-rival Illinois State. Six Northern Illinois standouts made All-IIAC that spring. Earning "First-Team" status were pitcher Jack Brumm, catcher Bill Eiserman, outfielder Bob Vidimos, and second baseball Ray "Scooter" Meath. Pitcher Gene Davis and infielder Bob Carlson made Second-Team All-IIAC. Eiserman garnered team MVP honors with a .348 batting mark---tops among the Huskie regulars.
McKinzie's Huskies repeated both the next spring---annexing the IIAC title the next spring with an 11-6 overall won-lost record and 7-3 league mark, plus fashioning another seven-game winning streak in 1951. Stap led the Northern Illinois mound staff with a 5-0 record, 36 strikeouts, and a 2.19 earned run average in winning the IIAC Most Valuable Player Award. Eiserman topped the locals in hitting (.355 average), followed by Cahill (.317) and outfielder Larry Leon (.312). Cahill, Eiserman, and Stap won First-Team All-IIAC plaudits with Bedrosian and Meath making the Second-Team All-IIAC unit.
The 1950 and 1951 Northern Illinois baseball lettermen: OF-INF John Bednarcik (Chicago / Harrison), OF-2B Sam Bedrosian (Oak Park), P Jack Brumm (Arlington Heights / Arlington), P-1B Fran Cahill (Utica / LaSalle-Peru), INF Bob Carlson (Chicago / Steinmetz), OF Grant Cummings (Chicago / Pullman Tech), P Gene Davis (DeKalb), P John Dunn (Berwyn / Morton), C-OF Bill Eiserman (Waukegan / Warren Twp.), INF Dick Giudici (Chicago / St. Bede), INF-OF Ron Hicks (Moline), P Dick Kreeger, OF-INF Larry Leon (Marseilles), P Frank Marino (Chicago / Lakeview), P Bernie McCole (Chicago / St. Mel), OF Jim McKinzie (DeKalb), 2B Ray Meath (Oak Park), OF-INF Pete Neukirch (Chicago / Taft), P Fred Odegard (Chicago), C-OF Ken Pickerill (Streator), INF John Sarina (Chicago), P Jake Stap (Richland, MI), INF Fred Tipps (Crystal Lake), OF-C Bob Vidimos (Chicago Heights / St. Bede), and INF Gene Wasco (Chicago / Taft).
