Ted Thoren served as the longtime head baseball and freshman football coach at Cornell University. Thoren led the Cornell baseball program from 1962 until his retirement in 1990.
Thoren directed the Big Red to a 541-520-11 (.505) record over his 29-year tenure at the helm. He retired with the most wins of any coach of a single program at Cornell, a mark that stood for 21 years.
The impact Thoren had on his players went far beyond wins and losses, however. Through the generosity of his former players, the head coaching position of the Cornell baseball position has been endowed as the Ted Thoren Head Coach of Cornell Baseball. All told, his former players have contributed to 17 endowments for the baseball program, and the annual alumni baseball game, which brings back players from the past 40 years, has been named in his honor. Additionally, his legendary No. 10 is the only number retired by the Cornell baseball program.
Thoren's coaching tenure at Cornell covered parts of six decades, beginning with his first position as a graduate football assistant. He worked with the varsity and junior varsity football staffs from 1952-58, becoming a full-time assistant in 1954. In 1955, he began assisting with the Cornell baseball program, first under Royner Green and later under George Patte, before being named as the 13th head coach in program history in 1962.
Thoren's 1977 team won the EIBL championship and advanced to the NCAA tournament, the only time in program history that Cornell has ever done so.
A 1986 inductee into the ABCA Hall of Fame, Thoren was presented with the Ithaca College Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999 after being inducted into the college's Athletic Hall of Fame in 1986. His induction into the Cornell Athletics Hall of Fame came in 1992, and three years later, he was added to the Wellsville, N.Y., Hall of Fame as a charter member. That same year, the Croatian Baseball Association added him to their Hall, with the Austrian Federation following suit in 1996. His seventh and final hall honor came in 2004 with his induction into the Allegany County (N.Y.) Hall of Fame, again as a charter member. In 2008, he received the Cornell Legend Award for his six decades of service, and received the Cornell Football Association's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009.
