*****Just added, the John Iorio signing video and his baseball highlights video from Western Guilford High School. CLICK HERE to view video…*****
Stuart Maynard, Sandy Gann, Tony Womack, Mark Guenther, Pella Stokes, Stan Smith, Ray Cooke, Robert Fulton and now just this week Macon Smith….Lots of good baseball players and baseball people coming through and right out of the Guilford College Quaker baseball program over the years, and with Guilford losing one REAL good one from Western Guilford(Macon Smith-1b/OF), why not have another current Western Guilford High School player step in and then they can keep the thread going…..Going back to Mark Guenther(SS), then Macon Smith and others over the years and now comes word today that John Iorio(3b/SS) from Western will join the Guilford College Quaker baseball team in the Fall of 2014….
Good news and a good job by John Iorio to get that spot with Coach Nick Black and the Quakers…Iorio, just like his Hornet friend Macon Smith before him, is a very intelligent young man…Macon Smith made just about every All-American team you can think on the NCAA DIII level, and the most important All-American team that he was named to, was the Academic All-America Team….
Ioiro has those same components and John Iorio will a be real catch for the Quakers….
Got to be a good day around the Iorio household, as ‘John John'(that’s what his younger sister used to call him) will staying close to the ‘home plate’ in Greensboro and playing at Guilford College…Maybe they will get that outfield fence painted and sealed up, before John steps up to the plate in 2014/2015….Good news for the John Iorio family and his dad, John Sr., can enjoy some more baseball next spring, as Guilford lines up at their facility on West Friendly Avnenue and New Garden Road….
Iorio’s Numbers at Western Guilford:
BA .365
OBP .473
SLG .464
OPS .937
RBI 59
H 107
2B 21
3B 1
HR 2
FLD % .907
Gary Smith(Macon’s dad) will leave a good spot for the future fans that will be saying goodbye to Macon Smith and ‘Hello to Iorio’….
First time throwing that out there, but it has a nice ring to it, “Say Hello to John Ioiro” at Guiford College….
Congrats to Macon Smith on great career and he made us all feel smarter after his great work on the field and in the classroom at Guilford and don’t forget it is time to say, “Hello to Iorio”…..
*****Just in today/Monday from our good friend Dave Walters at Guilford College:
Guilford College’s John Macon Smith (Greensboro, N.C./Western Guilford (Western Carolina)) earned the Old Dominion Athletic Conference’s (ODAC) prestigious Harry G. “Doc” Jopson Award, the league office announced Monday.
The annual award is given to the ODAC’s top male senior student-athlete according to a vote of the league’s Board of Directors. Smith is Guilford’s first recipient of the Jopson Award since the Quakers joined the league in 1991-92…..
Macon – Congrats on a great academic and athletic career!
John – Congrats on signing with Guilford to play baseball!
Andy, thanks for your coverage of baseball at all levels in the Guilford Co area. You do more than anyone to keep people interested in the game and give the kids (and adults) who play some recognition for what they’re doing. Thanks too for your coverage of Macon’s career. He loved playing baseball and gave it his best effort, second only to school work. Baseball gave him back a lifetime of memories.
I’m glad to see another WG alum go play for Coach Black. John will find some fine young men who love to play ball waiting to be his new teammates. I look forward to following his career at Guilford College.
I’ll close by saying to you what I’ve heard you say to lots of interviewees over the years – keep up the good work!!
Kind regards,
Gary Smith
Great programs are Guilford College and Western Guilford! Great folks from both places. Coach Brett Stell who won back to back baseball state championships at Western Guilford, was Mark Guenther’s roommate while attending Guilford College! Congratulations to both John Iorio and Macon Smith!
Never knew but often wondered, did Coach Stell play baseball at Guilford too???
By the way, I saved Mark Guenther’s life a few times back when he was in high school and I am glad to still be looking out for him today….