Johnny Reagan retired as head baseball coach of the Murray State Thoroughbreds after 36 years.
A 1948 Murray State graduate, Reagan returned to his alma mater in 1958 as head baseball coach, assistant basketball coach and business instructor. In 1971, he was named the assistant athletic director. He served as director of athletics from 1978-87 and as chairman of the NCAA Baseball Committee from 1978-1986.
A baseball and basketball standout as an undergraduate, Reagan became the only Racer to lead his team in every statistical category, a feat he achieved in 1946. Following his junior season in 1946, he received all-Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference honors in basketball. Reagan left his mark on the baseball field as a player as well, when he recorded a one-hitter against Western Kentucky University in 1946. He went on to play two years of professional baseball after receiving his degree in 1948.
During his baseball coaching career, Reagan led the Thoroughbreds to a 776-508-11 record and 11 Ohio Valley Conference championships, with the most recent title coming in 1991. A 10-time OVC Coach of the Year, his best season came in 1975, when his team posted a 40-9 record, was ranked as high as 12th in the NCAA baseball poll and became the OVC's first NCAA postseason playoff participant. Reagan again led the Thoroughbreds to postseason play in 1979, a team which came within one game of qualifying for the College World Series.
Reagan was inducted into the OVC Hall of Fame, the Murray State Athletics Hall of Fame and the Missouri Basketball Hall of Fame. Both the Bismarck, Mo. and MSU baseball fields bear his name.
