Liberty mourns loss of former baseball coach Johnny Hunton

Liberty Athletics mourns the loss of Johnny Hunton, a former head coach of the baseball program, who passed away on Sunday, Jan. 19 at the age of 97.

Hunton, the third head coach in the history of the Liberty Baseball program, led the program from 1991 to 1997.

Johnny Hunton helped usher in a new era for the Liberty baseball program when the Flames found NCAA Division I conference affiliation as a member of the Big South Conference for the 1992 baseball season.

Hunton was the fourth-winningest coach in program history with a seven-year coaching record of 175-175-3. He guided the Flames to the Big South title in 1993, becoming the first program in athletics department history to win a Big South title.

Hunton posted a pair of 30-win seasons during his seven-year stint as head coach, including his first year where he posted a 32-14-1 record and was named VaSID Coach of the Year. He coached 15 players that went on to play professional baseball, including 11 players that were selected in the Major League Baseball draft.

Prior to his days on the Mountain, Hunton played collegiate baseball at Maryland and was named the Maryland Athlete of the Year in 1950. He signed a professional contract with the New York Yankees out of college and played three seasons of minor league baseball (1952-54). He also spent 17 years as an assistant coach at South Carolina (1972-89), helping the Gamecocks to 12 NCAA Regionals and five College World Series appearances.