Brent Kemnitz
Born: Perry, Oklahoma Graduated: Perry (Okla.) HS, 1974/Graduated Phillips (Okla.) Univ., 1978
It would not be a stretch to bestow upon Kansas Sports Hall of Fame inductee Brent Kemnitz, the title of Mr. Wichita State.
For nearly 40 years, Kemnitz served as the Shockers nationally recognized baseball program’s pitching coach and later as assistant athletic director for outreach and staff development.
An outstanding high school pitcher at Perry (Okla.) High School he went on to have an impressive collegiate career at Phillips University in Enid, Okla., where he was 21-7 for his career. He then joined fellow Oklahoman Gene Stephenson, head coach at WSU, as a graduate assistant for two years before being elevated to pitching coach in 1980.
Kemnitz found his calling in Wichita, coaching many accomplished, award-winning pitchers in his almost four decades with the team. Under his reign, the Shockers led Division I baseball twice in ERA, in 1982 and 1991, and established an NCAA record with 46 complete games in a season. The Shockers have had 61 pitchers earn All-Valley honors under Kemnitz, 12 earn Valley Pitcher-of-the Year in the 27 years it has been presented, and at least one pitcher made first-team all-conference every year but four in Kemnitz’s tenure.
Two of his Kemnitz’s pitchers won Academic All American Player-of-the-Year honors (in 1992 and 1995), while 23 freshman pitchers earned Freshman All-American honors. He coached 80 pitchers who have advanced to professional baseball. In 2011, he was voted as a top-three pitching coaches in the country in a poll conducted by College Baseball Insider.
Perhaps the pinnacle of his career, Wichita State won the 1989 National Championship under his tutelage. While he was there, WSU made seven College World Series appearances, and won 20 Missouri-Valley Conference regular-season titles.
He was previously inducted into the Kansas Baseball Hall of Fame in 2003, the Perry High School Hall of Fame in 2016 and the Wichita Sports Hall of Fame in 2017.
Kemnitz has two daughters, Mackenzie and Madison.
Photo Courtesy of Wichita State University