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Only about 5% of college baseball players and coaches are African American. At Kansas Christian College, team leaders have made a deliberate effort to recruit from inner-city Kansas City — boosting Black representation in the process.
Kansas Christian College, in Overland Park, is bucking a trend.
In a collegiate sport where African American representation is in short supply, almost a third of the private school’s student-athletes in baseball are Black.
“It’s been our mission, in the very beginning when I was hired to take on this program,” said Falcons baseball coach Tony Hurla, who has led the team since 2019.
Though the institution is affiliated with the Church of God (Holiness), school leaders recruit students of various denominations and backgrounds. Of the approximately 200 students at KCC, Hurla said around 60% to 70% are minorities.
“It’s something I’m passionate about as well, having grown up in Kansas City, to give opportunity to urban-area kids,” said Hurla, echoing a priority that was instilled by his father, Dennis Hurla. The elder Hurla was a former Bishop Ward High School head coach who directed the Cyclones to 10 Kansas baseball championships.
According to NCAA statistics, only 5% of baseball players in all divisions are African American. That number drops to 3% for NCAA teams that don’t come from historically Black colleges and universities. READ MORE…
