Paul Wilson was still in shock two weeks after receiving the call to the North Idaho College sports hall of fame.
The Prince George baseball player will become only the second ball player to receive the honour at the junior college since the school began honouring former athletes, coaches and administrators in 2008.
"In my mind I was kind of setting it up to not happen so I wouldn't be too disappointed," said Wilson, who played two seasons at North Idaho (NIC) before taking his bat to school in Oklahoma. "I kind of thought about it a little bit - it would be cool and great if I make it, but I still wasn't thinking it was possible even. So I was pretty happy and pretty excited when [former coach Jack Bloxom] called to let me know I was one of the five chosen ones."
The induction ceremony is May 5 on the campus of the Coeur d'Alene school.
During his two years with NIC, Wilson earned Scenic West Athletic Conference all-region honours both years and showed patience and consistency at the plate with a .376 batting average and a team-leading 28 runs batted in as a freshman.
In his sophomore season, Wilson improved his average to .379, while hitting 15 doubles and scoring a team-high 36 runs. But his most impressive stat was the fact he only struck out 13 times in 278 at-bats in his two seasons in 1996 and 1997.
Bloxom recalled Wilson as a coach's dream.
"He was the greatest kid in the world to coach because he did exactly what you wanted him to do or tried to do it," said Bloxom, adding he doesn't recall anyone he'd coached having a lower two-year strikeout total. "He was just an extremely solid player."
After initially arriving at NIC to battle for the catcher's job, Wilson was smart enough to realize he was third on the depth chart and jumped at the chance when coach Bloxom handed him a third baseman's glove.
"I wasn't that great defensively," laughed Wilson. "I had a lot of holes."
It was Wilson's consistency at the plate that impressed his coach.
"He just got the job done," said Bloxom.
Wilson credited the teammate who batted behind him most of his sophomore season -- and the only other NIC baseball player in the school's sports hall of fame - with inflating his run totals. Trail's Jason Bay now plays for the New York Mets.
"I batted third and Jason batted fourth when we played together," said Wison, who vacated the hot corner for Bay and moved to first base in his second season. "I'd always joke with the guys that I got to work on my home-run trot batting before Jason because lots of times I'd be on first through a walk or a single and he'd hit a homerun, so I got to do the home-run trot even though I didn't hit the ball."
Wilson is currently preparing for another Prince George Senior Men's Baseball League season with the Red Sox. He will also play in the provincial senior men's baseball championship when Prince George host the event Aug. 3-6.
