Gilbert Toy McCord

Gilbert Toy McCord’s attitude of despising losing has earned him a spot in the Clarendon County Athletic Hall of Fame.

“I’ve never liked to lose and it’s unacceptable,” McCord said. “It hurts. Sports is something I took very serious”

McCord will be part of the inaugural, 11-person class of the hall.

 “I’m very honored,” McCord said. “It’s going to be fantastic.”

McCord’s athletic career spanned over 20 years and had a plethora of accolades in football, baseball and coaching.

McCord began playing sports when he was in the eighth grade.

He joined the Manning High School varsity baseball team in 1961 and immediately began to showcase his talents.

As an underclassman, he hit clean-up and played third base. He was one of the most prolific hitters with .400-average.

In the summer of 1962 at age 13, McCord played his first year of American Legion baseball under Head Coach Shad Hall.

During his five years, he was selected to go to the All-Star game and was called “the best player in the league” by Hall.

In the tenth grade, McCord began to display his athleticism on the gridiron.

He was, again, playing on the varsity level at a young age and played quarterback. His leadership under center guided Manning High School to their first nine-win season in history. Their only loss was to Kingstree.

McCord was also named All-Conference 6A and Honorable All-State.

During his junior year at Manning High, McCord really began to excel at baseball. He was the team captain and had a batting average of .477.

Despite playing shortstop and pitcher, he set a new pitching strike out record-averaging 16 per game.

It was not until McCord was a senior that his football talents were appreciated. He was the captain and gained 1800 yards rushing and scored 180 points.

“That’s hard to do as a quarterback,” McCord said. “That senior year was as super year. We were a prolific scoring team.

Following the season, he was selected to play in the Shrine Bowl, played offense and defense and scored a touchdown and was named the most valuable back.

After the Shrine Bowl, he was named as an All-State player in all classifications, All-Southern First team, back of the year in all classifications, and All-American.

He received over 30 football scholarship offers.

He signed a full four-year scholarship to the University of South Carolina.

As a collegiate athlete, McCord’s success on neither field slowed.

“Baseball is the path I chose in my junior year,” McCord said.

On the baseball field, McCord played mainly shortstop.

He hit two homeruns back-to-back against the Citadel and had a game-winning RBI against number one ranked North Carolina.

When he was a junior, he remained at shortstop and his baseball career exploded.

He led the team in batting, ranked in the top five in the nation for defense, First Team All ACC selection, All-State/All-District and was an Honorable Mention All-American.

Following his junior year, McCord chose to focus on baseball.

He was drafted in 1968 and played eight years in classes A, AA and AAA.

He played shortstop, second and third base for several team’s minor affiliates.

Some of those teams were the California Angels, Atlanta Braves and Chicago White Sox.

During is career, he made three All-Star teams, voted MVP twice, voted most popular player by the fans twice, served as captain three times, clinic organizer three times, hit over .300 four times, won one league championship and hit roughly 65 homeruns.

As McCord left the professional days behind, he returned to Manning and became a coach.

He was the baseball coach at Laurence Manning Academy in 1977 and led his team to an undefeated 22-0 record and the state championship.

That season earned him the S.C.I.S.A.A. Coach of the Year.

They lost a few games the following year but again brought in another state championship.

McCord later began coaching the Post 68 American Legion baseball program and coached eight years as an assistant and head coach and won two league and one district title.