G. Eugene Hooks (born May 15, 1928) was the

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches an ...

Wake Forest University Wake Forest University is a private research university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Founded in 1834, the university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina. The Reynolda Campus, the un ...

from 1964 to 1992.

Playing career

Hooks was a

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

for the

Wake Forest Demon Deacons baseball The Wake Forest Demon Deacons baseball team represents Wake Forest University in NCAA Division I college baseball. The program competes in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). They won the 1955 College World Series. They are coached by Tom Walte ...

team from 1947 to 1950. Hooks earned first-team All-America honors in 1947 and 1949, and second-team All-American honors in 1950. In 1949, Hooks helped lead the Demon Deacons to the 1949 College World Series, where they lost in the championship game to the

Texas Longhorns The Texas Longhorns are the athletic teams representing the University of Texas at Austin. The teams are sometimes referred to as the Horns and take their name from Longhorn cattle that were an important part of the development of Texas, and a ...

. After graduating from Wake Forest in 1950, Hooks initially played for the

Decatur Commodores The Decatur Commodores were a professional minor league baseball team based in Decatur, Illinois that played for 64 seasons. The Commodores are the primary ancestor of today's Kane County Cougars. They played, with sporadic interruptions, from 1 ...

in the Cincinnati Reds organization. However, most of Hooks' professional career was spent in the Chicago Cubs organization, spending time with the

Des Moines Bruins Des Moines Bruins were a minor league baseball based in Des Moines, Iowa. The team played in the Western League from 1947 to 1958. Their home ballpark was Pioneer Memorial Stadium, and they were affiliated with the Chicago Cubs (1947–1957) and ...

Springfield Cubs The Springfield Cubs, based in Springfield, Massachusetts, were a minor league baseball franchise that served as a farm team of the Chicago Cubs of Major League Baseball from 1948 to 1953. The team was a member of the Class B New England Leagu ...

Los Angeles Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team h ...

, and Magic Valley Cowboys before retiring after the 1954 season.

Coaching and athletic director career

After receiving his doctorate in education and physical education from George Peabody College, Hooks returned to Wake Forest as the head baseball coach and as a physical education instructor. Hooks would coach the baseball team through the 1959 season before returning to the classroom full-time. In 1964, he became the athletic director at Wake Forest. During his tenure, Wake Forest won three

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

national championships and 21 Atlantic Coast Conference championships. Upon his retirement in 1992, Hooks went on to serve as the executive director of the Division I-A Athletic Directors Association, a position he held until 1997. In 1999, Hooks was inducted into the

North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame The North Carolina Museum of History is a history museum located in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina. It is an affiliate through the Smithsonian Affiliations program. The museum is a part of the Division of State History Museums, Office of Archives ...

Gene Hooks Field at Wake Forest Baseball Park David F. Couch Ballpark is a collegiate and former minor-league baseball park in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The full-time home of the Wake Forest Demon Deacons baseball team, starting in 2009, it was also previously home of the Winston-Salem ...

, the Demon Deacons' home stadium, is named in his honor, as was their prior home, Gene Hooks Stadium.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hooks, Gene 1928 births Living people Wake Forest Demon Deacons athletic directors Wake Forest Demon Deacons baseball coaches Wake Forest Demon Deacons baseball players Decatur Commodores players Des Moines Bruins players Los Angeles Angels (minor league) players Magic Valley Cowboys players Springfield Cubs (Illinois) players All-American college baseball players Peabody College alumni Sportspeople from Goldsboro, North Carolina Baseball players from North Carolina