Former Linn-Benton Community College coach Greg Hawk and former Wheeler High School (Ga.) coach David McDonald are co-recipients of the 2015 ABCA Ethics in Coaching Award. They will be honored during the ABCA clinics on Jan. 4, 2015.
GREG HAWK
Hawk retired from LBCC in 2013 after 30 years as head baseball coach, where his teams posted a 602-526 record. His teams won six southern region titles and two Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges (NWAACC) titles in 1988 and 1991. Hawk was named league Coach of the Year eight times, including his final season of 2013, and was ABCA/Rawlings National Coach of the Year in 1988 and 1991.
"I really tried to recruit the type of young men who had a blue-collar mentality, were hard working, and who wanted to get their hands dirty and get on the ground and play the game really hard," said Hawk. "It wasn't about wins and losses – we created a family atmosphere, took care of one another like family."
Hawk was also a faculty member of the Health and Human Performance department, was LBCC's Athletic Director for 11 years and was head women's basketball coach for two seasons. He was previously NWAACC Men's Commissioner and Southern Region Chair. He is a member of the NWAACC Hall of Fame.
A 1980 graduate of Northwest Missouri State, Hawk began his coaching career as a graduate assistant under ABCA Hall of Famer Jimmy Wasem at Eastern Washington University before accepting the head coach position at Linn-Benton.
DAVID McDONALD
McDonald served as Wheeler High School's leader on the baseball diamond and in the classroom from 1979 to 2009. He led the Wildcats to unprecedented levels of success on the baseball diamond, posting a record of 496-299, six state playoff appearances and seven regional championships.
The 2004 ABCA/Diamond National Coach of the Year, McDonald currently serves on the ABCA Lefty Gomez Committee. He has also been highly involved in the National High School Baseball Coaches Association. McDonald has received many other honors, including Cobb County Coach of the Year three times as well as Cobb County Teacher of the Year. He is a member of several halls of fame.
McDonald has also been involved with USA Baseball. He coached the gold-medal-winning team that traveled to Taiwan in 2000 and served as trials coach from 1997 through 1999.
McDonald's passion for his pupils went beyond the classroom and baseball diamond: he worked tirelessly to advance his students to college.
A decorated Vietnam War veteran, McDonald was congratulated by President Bill Clinton after receiving his long-overdue Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster, for "heroism in ground combat against a hostile force in the Republic of Vietnam," in Marietta, Ga., in 1995.