Guilford College to honor “The Rock” Coach Stuart Maynard

Fund Established to Honor Long-Time Guilford College Coach Stuart T. Maynard

GREENSBORO— Alumni and friends have made gifts and pledges totaling nearly $290,000 to establish a fund honoring retired Guilford College coach Stuart T. Maynard, the college announced Sept. 26 during Homecoming and Family Weekend. Gifts will support a planned batting center for McBane Field on campus, which is the home field for the baseball team.

Maynard, now 91, coached the baseball team from 1952-84 and holds the record for most baseball coaching wins at the college. “The man so many of us refer to as ‘The Rock’ was a teacher, coach, mentor and friend for generations of Guilford students,” said Randy Doss ’82, the college’s vice president of enrollment, who played baseball for Maynard as a college student. “This fund means that his legacy will continue to impact Guilford student-athletes in the years to come.”

“Stuart Maynard exemplified Guilford’s core values of community, excellence and integrity in his work and in his life,” said Vice President for Advancement Mike Poston. “That so many Guilford alumniand friends have already pledged support for the Maynard Fund is a testament to the affection so many still feel for him.”

Maynard, who graduated from Guilford in 1943, was captain of the football and baseball teams. In 1951, the college hired him to be director of physical education and head coach of the football and baseball teams. He coached football for five seasons and baseball for 33 seasons until his retirement in 1984. Under Maynard, the baseball team was 436-394-4 and earned trips to the NAIA Baseball World Series in 1966 and 1976. Maynard won the Professional Baseball Scouting Association’s Coach of the Year Award in 1976 and the NAIA National Coach of the Year Award in 1966. He is a member of the NAIA Baseball Hall of Fame and the Guilford College Athletic Hall of Fame.

A native of Harnett County, N.C., Maynard served two years in the U.S.Navy and then took a job as football coach at Williamston (N.C.) High School. His team won the 1950 state championship. Maynard received the Alumni Excellence Award from Guilford in 1982, and the college honored the legendary coach by installing a commemorative rock between McBane Field and the Armfield Athletic Center in 2009.

Maynard resides in Greensboro with his wife, Ruth, who is a 1943 graduate of the college. They have five children. For information about contributing to the Stuart T. Maynard ’43 Fund for Athletics, contact Jerry W. Harrelson ’72, director of alumni relations, at 336-316-2333 or jharrels@guilford.edu.

One thought on “Guilford College to honor “The Rock” Coach Stuart Maynard

  1. As a Guilford Baseball alum, I am immensely honored to know “Rock”. In four years of playing for the Quakers, I don’t ever remember not looking up from the mound and seeing him watching. He has so many great stories and this is a very well-deserved honor for Coach Maynard. I never played for the man, but he is certainly someone that I will always call Coach. Between him and Dr. Herb Appenzeller, Guilford College Athletics has two legacies that have helped change this young coach’s career. I appreciate all that they have done and will continue to do for the Guilford College Athletics Department and the community.

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