Above: Retired baseball Coach George McQuitter, center, was inducted into the Mississippi Community and Junior Colleges Sports Hall of Fame on April 25. With him are friends and family members who were on hand to celebrate with him.
McQuitter coached baseball with much success as head coach at what is now the Utica Campus for nine years and as associate head coach for two years when the two programs merged on the Raymond Campus.
After earning his bachelor’s degree in Mass Communication in 1976 and master’s degree in Educational Technology in 1980 from Jackson State University, McQuitter was named the head coach of the Utica Junior College team in 1980, inheriting a team that went 0-21 the year before his arrival.
In just his second season (1981), McQuitter led his team to a District Championship, which was followed by two more District titles in 1982 and 1984, marking a notable turn-around in the program. McQuitter’s 1985 team posted a remarkable 49-9 record, winning a South Division Championship with a 27-1 South Division record. These seasons were just highlights of his stint with the Utica team as he posted an impressive 284-145 record in nine seasons.
Above: Retired baseball Coach George McQuitter, right, was inducted into the Mississippi Community and Junior Colleges Sports Hall of Fame on April 25. Congratulating him is Hinds President Dr. Stephen Vacik.
McQuitter saw 24 of his players go on to play professional baseball with three of those players being drafted in the first round of the Major League Baseball (MLB) draft and three players making it all the way to the highest stage of the MLB. Additionally, 70 of his players moved on to play at four-year universities. He was also selected to coach the 1984 and 1988 Junior College All-Star Games.
After the two baseball teams at Raymond and Utica merged into one in 1989, McQuitter coached alongside Rick Clarke at the Raymond Campus. As associate head coach in 1989, McQuitter helped coach the Eagles to a State, Region 23 and Eastern District championship as well as a Junior College World Series appearance in Grand Junction, Colo., the first Junior College World Series appearance in school and state history.
Until 2022, the 1989 team remains the only team to have won a state, regional and district championship and play in the Junior College World Series in the same season.
Coach McQuitter was inducted into the Hinds Sports Hall of Fame in 2018.