LUBBOCK, TX — Tim Burzette has been named to the National College Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 2021 the College Baseball Foundation announced today.

National Baseball College Hall of Fame Release

Burzette is part of a class of 14 players, coaches, and contributors who will be inducted as part of the virtual College Baseball Night of Champions ceremony scheduled for June 26. The event will be hosted by Dani Wexelman, currently a host for MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM and the host of the 2020 event.

Burzette, who is widely considered one of the best players to ever play baseball at the University of La Verne, is the first Leopard to be inducted into the National College Baseball Hall of Fame. Burzette earned First Team NAIA All-Americans three straight seasons (1976-1978) during his time at La Verne. The catcher is one of only two players to receive three-time NAIA All-Americans honors.

Burzette earned the NAIA Charles Berry Hustle Award in 1977 and was named to the NAIA All-Tournament team at the NAIA World Series in 1978. He was named the National Baseball Congress Catcher of the Year and to Team USA in 1976. Locally he was a three-time All-SCIAC and All-Regional first-team selection (1976-78). Burzette played professionally with the St. Louis Cardinals organization and was inducted into the University of La Verne Athletics Hall of Fame in 2011.

Joining Burzette in the class of 2021 are 1995 National and SEC Player of the Year Todd Helton from Tennessee, one of the top two-way players in college baseball history, and Auburn pitcher Gregg Olson, the first two-time All-American in Tigers history, as well as legendary Stanford head coach Mark Marquess, who spent 41 years with the Cardinal and retired in 2017 as the eighth-winningest coach in NCAA history.

Rounding out the 2021 induction class are Clemson outfielder/infielder Rusty Adkins, a three-time first-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference selection; Danny Litwhiler, who coached at Florida State and Michigan State over a 28-year career; Frank Quinn, a 31-game winner and American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) All-American from Yale; Rich Dauer, a first-team All-American third baseman for Southern California and junior college Player of the Year at California State College-San Bernardino; Terry Kennedy, a catcher for Florida State who was a two-time The Sporting News National Player of the Year; coach Frank "Porky" Vieira, who founded the program at Division II University of New Haven and led the program until his retirement in 2006 and won more than 1,100 games; Lewis University pitcher Tom Brennan, the 1974 NAIA National Player of the Year; Robert "Bob" Lee, who coached at Southern University from 1949 to 1961; and umpire Dave Yeast, who worked games from 1982 to 2015, worked two College World Series and served as the NCAA National Coordinator of Baseball Umpires from 1996 to 2008.

From the contributor's section of the ballot is longtime ABCA Executive Director Dave Keilitz, who helped grow the organization into what it is today and also was a first-team NAIA All-American at Central Michigan.

The College Baseball Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization established in 2004 to preserve and recognize the history of college baseball. The organization began its hall of fame inductions in 2006.