For CSU’s Greg Appleton, hall of fame induction just another mark in a storied career
Greg Appleton, Columbus State’s baseball coach, leaned back into his recliner chair behind his desk at Columbus State’s baseball clubhouse near Burger King Stadium.
A championship ring brandishing CSU’s logo sits on his desk, near a decoration of a stone bulldog. Appleton, a Georgia graduate and former pitching coach on UGA’s 1990 national championship baseball team — the program’s only national title — worked his way into coaching as a grad assistant in Athens. He has never lived outside the state of Georgia, and never coached outside the state either, more than 30 years and numerous accolades later.
Last week, Appleton was recognized by the “biggest baseball entity” in Georgia, marking another high in a storied coaching career as he begins his 23rd season at Columbus State.
Appleton was inducted into the Georgia Dugout Club Baseball Hall of Fame on January 10. He found out the news in August, from Vince Massey, the head baseball coach at Brookstone who served as an assistant coach under Appleton at CSU until 2002.
“It’s an honor,” Appleton said. “I scanned the list of guys who are in there, and most of them are high school coaches, because that’s the majority of what the Georgia Dugout Club is. But there are some really great coaches in there, and guys I’ve known and worked with. It was a special honor for sure.”
A historic career
After his playing and coaching careers at UGA, Appleton moved from Athens to Young Harris in 1994 to restart Young Harris College’s baseball program.
It was an immediate learning curve, Appleton said, as he only had to coach at Georgia. At Young Harris, he was in charge of everything from washing jerseys to figuring out where the team would eat dinner while on road trips.
Appleton compiled a 127-74 mark in four seasons at Young Harris.
“(Restarting the program) was one of my proudest moments,” Appleton said. “Starting that program, and to see where it is now, knowing that you had a part in that is kind of special.”
Appleton’s time at Columbus State has been nothing short of historic.
Appleton is the all-time wins leader in the 50-year history of Columbus State’s baseball program. He holds a career record of 803-430 at CSU, and an overall record of 930-504 entering the 2020 season.
In 2002, Appleton led the Cougars to the program’s first Division II national championship. In addition to the national title, Appleton has taken the Cougars to the NCAA tournament 11 times, including four trips to the Division II College World Series. CSU also reached the championship round in 2004 and 2018.
Appleton and Columbus State have captured two Peach Belt Conference championships (2008, 2016) and three PBC tournament titles (2006, 2010, 2016) under his leadership.
“Wins and losses are going to come and go,” Appleton said. “But how you treat your players, and the people that you come in contact with, as far as your opponents and other coaches ... just to know it’s a game, and that the wins and losses are going to come and go, those are lasting.”
Other members of the 2020 class included former Toombs County head coach Steve Janousek, North Paulding head coach Dennis Jordan, the late Dennis Payne, Marist head coach Mike Strickland and longtime First Presbyterian Day coach Jim Turner.
