General | 4/25/2016 3:50:00 PM
ELLENSBURG, Wash (April. 25) – Central Washington University will induct baseball standout Scott Earle into the 2016 Athletics Hall of Fame. The Ceremony will be held May. 14 in the SURC Ballroom beginning at 5:00 p.m. Tickets for the 2016 HOF Banquet can be purchases online at Wildcatsports.com/HOF.
Earle competed for the Wildcats during the late 90's when the school was competing in the NAIA ranks. As a starting pitcher in 1999, Earle earned first-team all-league honors en route to a NAIA West Coast Player of the Year award. He was named to the west all-region team as a sophomore and senior and ranks in the top-five of nearly every pitching category. Earle is the all time leaders in career wins, complete games and most batters hit-by-pitch.
Earle and his wife Judy (2014 CWU HOF Inductee) have four kids. Below is a Q&A with the Hall of Fame pitcher.
CWU Athletics: Congratulations on making it into the Hall of Fame. Explain to us what was going through your heard when Dr. Francois called you and gave you the news?
Scott Earle: There was a moment when I got the call from Dr. Francois that I thought it might have been about the fundraising campaign. I thought it could be Hall of Fame or fundraising so I didn't want to get too excited, but when he let me know what was going on, it was a cool deal. It was a little surreal, I pulled my wife Judy into the room with me and put the call on speaker and we shared that moment together.
CWU: What does this accomplishment mean to you?
SE: For me it's more of a fun exclamation point on a period of my life. I loved my entire experience at Central to the point where we considered just staying in Ellensburg and raising a family over there. I loved my time there and I loved the opportunities I was given on the mound.
CWU: You own a slew of CWU records, which one stands out more than the others?
SE: I would have to say it was all the complete games. I was a throw back style of pitcher that had the mentality of finishing a game that I started. I loved the wins and was proud of all the strikeouts, but for me, it was the complete games. That was something that I enjoyed a ton.
CWU: Outside of your athletic ability, what was one reason for your success at
CWU?
SE: My competitiveness. While I didn't like to run and do all those things a pitcher is supposed to do, I kept my body in good condition by visiting the training room because I never wanted to miss a start. I did whatever I had to do to get myself available.
CWU: What is your most memorable baseball moment at CWU?
SE: It was probably my 10 inning complete-game win at Lewis-Clark State. We won 4-3, I gave up two bombs in the game, but I remember in the eighth inning of the game, Desi came out to take me out of the game and I said to him 'this is going to be awkward because I'm not leaving.' So the umpire came out to break up the meeting and Desi went back to the dugout. He gave me that kind of freedom and I'm grateful for that.
CWU: How many pitches did you have and what was your strikeout pitch?
SE: I had great control and a lot of movement. I threw a fastball, change, curve and split-finger and depending on the day I would mix and match all those pitches. I could paint the corners and move the ball both ways.
CWU: It has been nearly 17 Years since you last played, what do you miss the most about playing baseball at CWU?
SE: The thing I miss the most is just being in your prime; competitively and physically. Feeling like you can do anything, that feeling that everything is in front of you and anything is possibly. I loved my time at Central with my friends, meeting Judy. My life was so fun and enriching with my friends, and that made baseball much more enjoyable. I think that just allowed me to be happy and free. I also miss getting the baseball and having the pressure of guiding our team to a win or a loss.
CWU: Catch us up on what has happened in your life since you left CWU.
SE: Right out of Central I had a six-year stint working with the Seattle Sonics and Storm in their PR Department. Judy and I got married in 2000, right after college. When I signed with the Mariners, Judy came down to Phoenix and I proposed to her there. We have four great kids; our oldest is 13 in junior high which is crazy to think about. Judy and I have been doing a lot of running around and supporting our kids in many activities. I run national sales for Fletcher's Fine Foods and oversee all of the sales nation wide for Fletcher's. What's cool is I have the same leadership and team principles as I did when I played baseball and for the team I coach. They are all centered around about being personable and taking ownership in your results and that is something that I have learned sports. I also enjoy coaching at Fife high school. I enjoy giving back to those kids and it really helps satisfy my competitive needs.
CWU: You and your wife are now both CWU hall of famers… who is/was the better athlete and can we expect any more CWU standouts coming out of the Earle household?
SE: I joke about this with her, and I said 'of course it's me!' But we discovered the answer when my 13-year-old son said 'Mom would whoop you,' and he is probably right. It took us a couple years of marriage to get our competitiveness at a normal level. We are super competitive and it has rubbed off on our kids. We are a competitive group. We have had some epic battles in tennis and now in Jenga and cards, and we're in a great spot now in our lives and marriage.
It's going to be fun to watch and wait and see. It will be interesting to see where their skills and passions take them. I know our kids like to tell their friends about their parent's accomplishments at Central so we'll see. I just want them to be passionate about something and jump all in for it.
