Athletics Department. Men's Baseball Records
The Athletics Department's Men's Baseball Records documents the historical and current activities of the Wake Forest Demon Deacons intercollegiate baseball team. The team was established in 1891 during its first season of intercollegiate play. Wake Forest has played under the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) since 1953. This collection contains media guides, posters, schedules, and materials related to coaching staff and team alumni. Common abbreviations found in this collection are the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA), and the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).
Biographical and Historical Note
The Wake Forest University Men's Baseball Team played it's first intercollegiate game in Raleigh, North Carolina against UNC Chapel Hill in 1891. Wake Forest beat Chapel Hill 10-7. The following year, Wake Forest faced Chapel Hill again as well as a team from Oak Ridge, NC. Prior to the formation of organizing bodies such as the NCAA and the ACC, schools would hire professional players who were non-students to play in intercollegiate matches. By 1894, Wake Forest had added Trinity College (now Duke University) to it's schedule lineup.
As intercollegiate sporting competitions became popular, student participation in football and baseball began facing opposition from college faculty and the Board of Trustees. College administrators, trustees, and faculty were concerned with the interest in sports taking precedence over academics. Football was determined to be too barbaric and was banned by the trustees and faculty in 1895 and the baseball team had it's number of games decreased. It was also decided that baseball players had to be enrolled and active students in order to play.
In 1904, G. W. Paschal hired Jim Crozier as the first dedicated trainer for the baseball team. Crozier would eventially become the Director of Physical Culture as well as the coach of other teams. The following years saw growing interest in baseball, and significant land purchases by the college allowed for dedicated space for baseball, track, and football to be played.
Similar to other sports, baseball was canceled during World War II but was revived in 1946. Following the war, the baseball team experienced several successful seasons. In 1951, the team was selected to represent the United States at the Pan-American Games, earning a silver medal. The team made its first NCAA Baseball Championship appearance in 1947 and won the College World Series in 1955, coached by Taylor Sanford. That season, the team had a record of 28-7.
The Demon Deacons have made at least 16 appearances in the championships, won 3 conference championships (1949, 1955, 2023) and produced dozens of MLB players. 2 former Deacons have been inducted into the College Baseball Hall of Fame, Charlie Teague (2010) and former player, coach, and athletics director, Gene Hooks (2025). Tom Walter is the current head coach of the Demon Deacons Baseball Team and has achieved over 450 wins during is 15 year tenure at Wake Forest.
Collection Overview
The Wake Forest University Men's Baseball Team played it's first intercollegiate game in Raleigh, N.C. against UNC Chapel Hill in 1891. Since then the team has grown into a successful intercollegiate team. This collection documents the historical and current activities of the Demon Deacons Men's Baseball Team. Materials in this collection include game programs and posters, as well as athlete certificates, newspaper articles, schedules, and promotional materials.
Collection Arrangement
This collection is arranged is arranged into two series: Series 1. Administrative and operational files, and Series 2. Publications.
Series 1. Administrative files include materials and records that document season-to-season operational activities of the Demon Deacons Men's Baseball team.
Series 2. Publications, include published materials such as media guides and game day programs.
Administrative Information
- Publication Information
- Processed by Ashelee Gerald Hill, 2025 July
- Access Restrictions
- This collection is open to researchers.
- Copyright notice
- The nature of the WFU Z. Smith Reynolds Library Special Collections and Archives means that copyright or other information about restrictions may be difficult or even impossible to determine despite reasonable efforts. The Archives and Special Collections of ZSR Library claims only physical ownership of most materials. The materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to the U.S. Copyright Law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source.
- Preferred Citation
- Athletics Department. Men's Baseball Records (RG 21.2), Z. Smith Reynolds Library Special Collections and Archives, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC, USA.