Rudy Vallee Abbott (December 29, 1940 – February 9, 2022) was an American

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

coach who served as head coach of the

Jacksonville State Gamecocks baseball The Jacksonville State Gamecocks baseball team is a varsity intercollegiate athletic team of Jacksonville State University in Jacksonville, Alabama, United States. The team is a member of the Atlantic Sun Conference, which is part of the National ...

team from 1970 to 2001. His all-time record is 1003–467 (.682).

Coaching career

Abbott coached the Jacksonville State baseball teams to NCAA Division II national champions in 1990 and 1991. Seven of his Jacksonville State baseball teams advanced to the NCAA Division II World Series. In 1979, his team started the season with a 29–0 record, an NCAA record for the best start in history. He was named Division II Coach of the Year in 1990. In Division I, he was named the TAAC Coach of the Year in 1997. As of 2013, Abbott's 1,003 wins placed him ninth on the all-time NCAA list for coaches in Division II.

Personal life and death

Abbott was hospitalized with

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

-related pneumonia in February 2022. He died on February 9, at the age of 81, in

Jacksonville, Alabama Jacksonville is a city in Calhoun County, Alabama, United States. As of the 2010 census the population was 12,548, which is a 49% increase since 2000. It is included in the Anniston-Oxford Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city is home to Jacks ...

References

1940 births 2022 deaths Jacksonville State Gamecocks baseball coaches Jacksonville State Gamecocks baseball players Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Alabama Deaths from pneumonia in Alabama {{US-baseball-manager-stub