By Jaylen Boyd
The FCSAA Hall of Fame inducts Pensacola State College (PSC) Bill Hamilton. Hamilton is the eighth PSC administrator/faculty member to be recognized by the organization.
He is from Lake City, Florida, and is getting his bachelor’s degree from Huntingdon College. From his beginning as an assistant at Chipola State to a proud Pirate with an impressive record of 703 wins and 468 losses, Hamilton’s feat does not end there.
Hamilton led the Pirates to their first ever state baseball championship in 2004.
Hamilton also was awarded the FCSAA Coach of the Year, NJCAA Region VIII Coach of the Year and the ABCA/Diamond Regional Coach of the Year for NJCAA Division I.
In 2008, Hamilton surpassed Coach Buddy Kisner as the All-Time Career Leader in wins at PSC with his 525th victory. This accomplishment was something that he was not striving to achieve.
Hall of Fame is not the only achievement he has received over the years. Hamilton was also inducted in the NJCAA Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame and the Pensacola Sports Association Hall of Fame. Huntingdon College also placed him in the Athletics Hall of Fame in 2017.
Even with all these awards, Hamilton is a very humble man who thinks highly of our community: “The community is great, great for fishing, and Pensacola produces top level talent.”
He expounds, on how athletes from all over the world come here for the competition that one would not get in Division I.
His analogy says it best: “I’m not a good tennis player; if I play Pete Sampras 100 times, I’ll lose. But I’ll get better to the point where he isn’t hitting me with the 100-mile serve every time. I play my Grandma who can’t move, I can beat her 100 times if I chose to. Would I get better? No, my skills would deteriorate.”
It is no wonder that PSC President Ed Meadows describes him as the best of the best. Hamilton is what one would call, “The Greatest of All Time.” Hamilton and President Meadows were capable of getting a 3.0 GPA in the athletics department across the board. As Hamilton puts it, “He is the perfect president.”
Hamilton is at his 35th year in PSC’s college athletics. Those years have been nothing but a trail blazing journey. Even after college, his former students still keep in contact with him. He is an amazing mentor and community leader grooming the next generation.