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Induction Speech
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1-on-1 with Dave Keilitz
Dave Keilitz, Central Michigan (Baseball)
Dave Keilitz has represented Central Michigan University with success throughout his entire career. From his time as an award-winning baseball student-athlete to his years as a coach, then administrator, and now his role within the baseball community on a national level, Keilitz has impacted the athletics landscape a local, conference and national levels.
Keilitz became Central Michigan’s first All-America baseball player as a senior in 1964, earning first-team NAIA honors. He then served Central Michigan as a graduate assistant coach then coach of the freshman team and eventually head baseball coach in 1971. As head coach for 14 seasons, Keilitz compiled a 453-203-6 record, won four MAC titles and was named MAC Coach of the Year four times and twice was Regional Coach of the Year.
Throughout his coaching career, Keilitz never had a losing season. He opened his head coaching career by leading the Chippewas to a No. 1 national ranking and into the NCAA College Division national championship game, and 28 years later led that 1971 squad into the CMU Athletics Hall of Fame. It was the first of six NCAA tournament appearances for Keilitz’s Chippewas.
Keilitz was hired as Central Michigan’s athletics director in 1984, leading the Chippewas to 26 MAC championships throughout his 10 years, a span in which every coach was named MAC Coach of the Year at least once.
Both during his time as coach and as athletics director, Keilitz also served on several American Baseball Coaches Association committees and was president of the organization in 1982. It was during his term that the ABCA Board of Directors was established, and he still serves as Executive Director today. Major legislation accomplishments have also taken place under his watch – bracket expansion in all divisions, change of season legislation in Division I, ball and bat standards for college play, and recruiting, practice and playing rules.
Keilitz also served as a member of the NCAA Council from 1989-92, where he chaired the NCAA Baseball Committee, was a member of the NCAA Post-Graduate Scholarship Committee, the NCAA Committee to Review Legislative Process, and served on the NCAA Television Committee. In 1992, chaired the committee to ‘Fine Tune’ Legislation from the 1991 NCAA ‘Reform’ Convention.
Keilitz and his wife, Sue, have two sons, Craig and Brad. The couple currently resides in Mount Pleasant, Mich.
