February 16 - Two Prince William County standouts and the second member of a decorated Fairfax County coaching family will be inducted into the Home Plate Club’s Hall of Fame as the longtime area baseball organization hits the restart button at its banquet next month.
Mike Colangelo, Dan Raley and Al McCullock will form the 2017 Hall of Fame Class as the HPC, which was founded in 1958, holds its first Awards & Hall of Fame Banquet since 2011.
Colangelo starred at C.D. Hylton and George Mason University before a four-year Major League career, while Raley led Potomac to a Group AAA state championship in 1983 before becoming an All-American at Wichita State University. McCullock, who retired in 2009 after 17 seasons as Herndon’s head coach, led the Hornets to 235 victories, back-to-back Northern Region championships in 1995-96 and to four Concorde District titles.
The four will be inducted at the banquet, which is co-sponsored by the magazine, on March 4 at the Holiday Inn Dulles in Sterling. Grant Paulsen and Danny Rouhier of 106.7 The Fan’s ‘Grant and Danny’ show will serve as emcees, with former Major League pitcher and MASN-TV analyst Mike Wallace delivering the keynote address.
Colangelo led Hylton to the state semifinals as a senior in 1994 before his three-year career at George Mason, which concluded with a 1997 season in which he hit. 418 with a .520 on-base average and 32 extra-base hits for the Patriots. The outfielder was drafted by Anaheim in the 21st round of that year’s Major League Baseball Draft, and would play in the big leagues with the Angels, San Diego Padres and Oakland Athletics before retiring in 2006. Colangelo currently serves as the head coach at newly-opened Charles J. Colgan High School in Manassas.
"It's a great honor to be inducted into the Hall of Fame," Colangelo said. "As you get older, you realize the way you treat people and the work ethic you put forth is rewarded. [It's] very exciting for my family and I, a great honor."
A baseball and football coach at the school for 30 years, McCullock presided over the most-successful era at Herndon, especially during an eight-year stretch from 1995-2002. During that period, the Hornets won four of the program’s five district titles, and McCullock matched his father’s accomplishment of winning a region championship in 1995. (Al McCullock, Sr., led Falls Church to a Northern Region crown in 1981, and is also a member of the HPC’s Hall of Fame.) The following year, in 1996, McCullock led the Hornets to a school-record 23 wins and second consecutive district and region titles before falling to eventual champion Frank Cox in the state quarterfinals. Like his father’s at Falls Church, the field at Herndon now bears McCullock’s name.
“It means a lot,” McCullock said of joining the Hall of Fame with his father, who he introduced during his induction ceremony in 2005. “Getting in with Dad, you kind of want to follow in their footsteps. It means a lot to be able to do that.”
Added Raley: “It’s a tremendous honor. When I think of the Home Plate Club club, I think of Edsel Martz, Jake Jacobs, Bob Menefee, guys I played for and coached with. They were guys who did so much with baseball community, did so much for the kids in this area and were always such a positive influence. I try to emulate those guys now when I coach.”
Raley teamed with his brother, Tim, to lead Potomac to a 21-0-1 record in 1983, becoming just the second team in state history to go unbeaten in just the school’s third year of existence. That Panthers team was voted No. 3 in the magazine’s All-Time Top 10 feature of Northern Virginia’s best teams last fall. After hitting .565 and going 6-0 on the mound as a senior in 1984, Raley became teammates once again with his brother, who is one year his elder, at Wichita State. He was a Freshman All-American in 1985, helped the Shockers reach the College World Series in 1988, and would play four professional seasons before retiring in 1992. Raley currently serves as an assistant coach at Potomac.
“Winning a state championship, that’s something nobody can ever take away from you,” Raley said. “When you get to that point, it’s the reward for all the hard work you put in and getting the job done. A great feeling. It’s what you work for, what you put all that work in for. At the time, when you’re playing, you expect to be there. You expect to win a state championship, you expect to be in the College World Series.
“We were more surprised if you didn’t get there.”
Previously functioning as the Washington, D.C. Home Plate Club, the HPC’s reboot will focus on teams, players, coaches and community members in Northern Virginia. The HPC is headed by president Ron Tugwell, the longtime former coach at West Springfield, and vice president Rob Hahne, the head coach at Westfield who also serves as the president of the Fairfax County Baseball Council and the director of the Northern Virginia Travel Baseball League.
The HPC will also honor four members of the baseball community for outstanding achievements and will present the Jake Jacobs Lifetime Achievement Award and Robert Menefee Man of the Year Award. Also being honored at the banquet will be the magazine’s eight 2016 Teams of the Year from different age levels, the Ron Tugwell NOVA Nine Coach of the Year, the NOVA Nine Player of the Year, and the Collegiate Player of the Year.
For more information on the banquet and to purchase tickets, click here.
