About Inductee

DEWAYNE FRIEND PROGRAM STORY As Dewayne Friend recalls his baseball career, some of the brand-name opponents spring to mind. There was Kirby Puckett, in the opposite dugout at the Junior College World Series. There were Will Clark and Rafael Palmeiro at Mississippi State, Dave Magadan at Alabama. And, in the same dugout at Auburn (and even occasionally in the same room on road trips), a guy named Bo Jackson. Let the record show that it was Dewayne Friend who was Auburns MVP in that 1983 baseball season, not the future major leaguer. Arriving in Auburn after two years of junior college ball, Friend led Auburn in virtually every offensive category in his junior year, including a .290 batting average, 11 homers and 47 RBIs. He would hit .293 with 11 homers and 43 RBIs the next as Auburns catcher. At the time, Jackson was a raw talent, Friend recalls. Jackson struck out in half his 68 at-bats that year, but when he made contact, it was unreal, Friend says. That Friend was at Auburn in the first place was due to the presence of still another teammate. Mark Hutchison and Friend were part of the Northwest Huntsville All-Star team that finished runner-up in the Babe Ruth World Series in Newark, Ohio, in 1977. When Hutchison signed with Auburn, his father Ray who had coached several teams the boys played for learned that the Tigers were looking for an experienced catcher. He recommended Friend, and Auburn coach Paul Nix came to watch a summer-league game. He quickly offered a scholarship, just as Friend was on the verge of boing to Birmingham-Southern. The teammate to whom Friend was most closely tied was still another multi-sport star who became an SEC running back. He grew up with Ricky Moore (like Hutchison, a previous inductee into the Huntsville-Madison County Athletic Hall of Fame). They started playing organized ball at age 10 at Lakewood, then moved onto Mastin Lake, where the nucleus of that World Series team was built. They were dubbed the North Alabama Giants by some awed fans in the regional at Fort Payne after an explosive 20-2 victory, which featured a pair of Friend home runs. Once back from the World Series, they were honored at a City Council meeting with certificates for their accomplishment, a pretty big deal for a 15-year-old, he says. They moved from there to interscholastic sports at Chapman Middle School and then Lee High, in an era before the specialization of one-sport athletes. Friend played football, basketball and baseball. I liked them all, he says. I enjoyed baseball more, no doubt about it. I loved catching. I controlled the game and I liked that part of it. I enjoyed football on Friday night, but I didnt like it during the week (at practice). But I think thats most people. His versatility in baseball paid dividend as well. He had been an infielder in his early days before youth league coach Clint Shaw asked him to play catcher one day in practice. It was a great fit. He was getting notice from college and professional scouts until he suffered a knee injury late in basketball season when an opponent undercut him on a layup. He wound up signing with Columbia State, a junior college powerhouse in Tennessee. Columbia State also signed a heavy-hitting catcher from Memphis who could play no other position, so Friend moved to the outfield and played on a regular basis for a team that reached the Juco World Series. That set him up nicely for his two years at Auburn, after which he was content to say goodbye to baseball. He wasnt drafted, but resisted a free-agent offer from the Angels. I know it sounds crazy, but I was tired and I had injuries, and I had come to realize my chance of making it to the majors werent all that great, he says. I was fortunate. I got my degree. As my mom and dad always told me, and I tell my kids Ive coached, use baseball to get your degree. You enjoy baseball, but the ultimate goal is to get the degree, and thats fine. Coy and Ruby Friend were parents to two sons, with Garrison coming along three years after Dewayne. Often, they were in divide and conquer mode, as Dewayne puts it, one of them attending Garrisons game in one park and Dewaynes in another park or even a different state. Friend got into the corporate world after his graduation from Auburn, though he didnt totally hang up the glove and spikes. He was a standout fastpitch and slowpitch softball players for years then you start having a family, and dont have as much time. He and wife Tina had two children. Son Jordan and his wife Brandi have son Liam. The Friends daughter Stephanie Collins passed away in March 2019. She was married to Quentin Collins, and they had daughter Kensley Collins and son Riley Friend. Dewayne works as a project control manager at Tyonek. -Mark McCarter