WACO, Texas (KWTX) – Over the weekend, the McLennan baseball program honored two legends, Greg Dennis and Dave Van Horn, with a jersey retirement ceremony at Bosque River Ballpark.
“The sheer volume of great players that went through this program is staggering,” said Dennis. “So to even be mentioned with them, to me, is tremendously flattering.”
Many college baseball fans are very familiar with Dave Van Horn. This week, he’ll enter his 24th season as the head coach for the University of Arkansas Razorbacks, but before his coaching career, Van Horn was an All-American at McLennan.
In 1980, Van Horn packed his car and drove down to Waco from Kansas City to become a Highlander. The third baseman was described by many of his old teammates as “one of the best defensive players to ever play for McLennan”
In 1980, Van Horn helped lead McLennan to their first ever JUCO College World Series appearance in Grand Junction. The Highlanders returned to Grand Junction in 1981. In both trips to the World Series, McLennan took down national powerhouse San Jacinto College, which at the time had Hall of Fame coach Wayne Graham at the helm.
Van Horn was also named the Region 5 Player of the Year in 1981. He’d go on to finish out his collegiate playing career at Arkansas, where he’d later return as their head coach in 2003. He’s also had stops at Nebraska, Northwestern State, Central Missouri State, and Texarkana. Throughout his NCAA head coaching career, he’s amassed over 1,300 wins and 10 trips to the College World Series. He was also selected by the Atlanta Braves in the 10th round of the 1982 MLB Draft.
After the ceremony on Sunday, Van Horn told KWTX he learned how to compete during his time at McLennan.
“The lessons I learned here as a player were about how to compete,” said Van Horn. “And earn everything you get. It’s kind of the way we do it at Arkansas. You can be one of the top recruits in the country , but once everyone walks in the door, they’re all the same, and I tell them that. I learned that here.”
Van Horn would inspire the All-American career of shortstop Greg Dennis. The Tennessee native played for McLennan from 1982-1983, leading the Highlanders to two more trips to Grand Junction and the school’s first national championship in 1983.
During his time at McLennan, Dennis set single-season program records for games played (65), hits (93), and fewest strikeouts (10 in 251 at bats), errors (1), and infield assists (167).
After McLennan, Dennis played for the Florida State Seminoles and the Baylor Bears and was eventually drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in 1985. He later returned to Waco to serve as an assistant coach for the Highlanders for three seasons before eventually going back to his home town of Chattanooga to coach at Chattanooga State, where he has served as head coach for the last 23 years.
Dennis told KWTX he often thinks of the 1983 team.
“That team did a really remarkable job of staying hungry, even when things were going well, we stayed hungry,” said Dennis. “I’ll be preaching to our guys (at Chattanooga State) ‘Don’t be satisfied.’”
Dennis and Van Horn became the fourth and fifth players to have their jersey numbers retired at McLennan. Dennis (24) and Van Horn (8) join Pat Listach (8), Jay Buhner (18), and Craig McMurtry (18) on the left field wall.
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