BUDDY BOLDING TRIBUTE VIDEO (YouTube)
FARMVILLE, Va. -- Longwood University will recognize and honor its veteran baseball head coach, Charles Buddy Bolding, with 'Buddy Bolding Day' this Saturday, April 20, as the Lancers play Big South Conference opponent Gardner-Webb University at 4 p.m. A special pre-game ceremony, featuring introductions and presentations, is scheduled to take place at Charles Buddy Bolding Stadium beginning at 3:30 p.m., following a pre-game reception scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Many of the 300-plus who have played for Coach Bolding are expected to return for the event that is free and open to the public.
“This day of recognition is one of the small ways in which Longwood Athletics can thanks Coach Bolding for his many great accomplishments,” said Director of Athletics
Troy Austin. “I look forward to reconnecting with former players and watching what may be a pivotal conference matchup against Gardner-Webb.”
Bolding, who is in his 35th year at Longwood University, has announced that he will retire as the head coach of the Lancers following the 2013 season. Prior to this week, he has attained an outstanding overall record of 944-536-4 since taking over during the fall of 1978, including 31 winning seasons as mentor of the tradition-rich program. Coach Bolding's teams have posted 31 overall 20-win campaigns and 24 seasons with at least 25 wins. Longwood dedicated its baseball facility as 'Charles Buddy Bolding Stadium' on October 3, 2009.
Bolding coached Longwood to 26 consecutive winning seasons (1979-2004), including a remarkable run of 24-straight, 20-win seasons (1981-2004). His tenure is highlighted by six appearances in the NCAA Division II Tournament, including two trips to the Division II College World Series, most recently in 1991 that featured a program-best 41-8 record while advancing to the final four of the national championship. That 1991 team, including Coach Bolding and assistant coach Robert Jackson '89, was inducted into the Longwood Athletics Hall of Fame with the Class of 2011 on November 12, 2011.
The Hardy, Virginia native has built the program at Longwood by recruiting mostly in-state players. An estimated 30-plus former Lancer baseball players are now involved in coaching on the high school or college level, the majority in the Commonwealth.
Bolding served as a U.S. Army medic in Vietnam, then received his Bachelor of Science degree in health, physical education and recreation from Milligan (Tenn.) College in 1973, and earned his Master of Science degree from the University of Tennessee in 1974.
Bolding was inducted into the Milligan College Athletics Hall of Fame in Tennessee on October 26, 2012. He was a multi-event standout in track and field at the school, where he set records in the 440, pole vault, discus and javelin, and he posted an impressive 47.8-second outdoor 440 at the 1972 Davidson Relays.
Buddy and his wife, Andrea, have three children: Lauren, Suzanne and Brad -- all of whom attended and two who graduated -- from Longwood (Brad also played as a Lancer before graduating from Old Dominion University) and two grandchildren: Sage and Charles.
