INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana - Wilmington College Head Baseball Coach Tony Vittorio has been selected for his alma mater's, Southport High School (Indiana), Athletic Wall of Fame.
A 1984 alumnus, Vittorio competed in three sports and earned six varsity letters - three in tennis, two in baseball and one in basketball. As a senior, Vittorio captained the baseball team.
"Southport High School is honored to announce Tony Vittorrio as our 2020 Wall of Fame recipient," said Pete Hubbard, Southport's director of athletics. "We are proud of Tony's achievements in his baseball career and his representation of Southport High School."
Following his high school career, Vittorio was a four-year member of the baseball team at Hanover College, located in Southern Indiana along the Ohio River. As a Panther, he played baseball for four years under longtime Head Coach Dick Naylor as well as double majoring in business administration and physical education. Upon graduation from Hanover, Vittorio spent one season as an assistant baseball coach at Indiana University before taking over as Head Baseball Coach at Lincoln Trail Community College. From 1991-94, he led the team to 144 victories and sent over 20 players to four-year collegaite programs.
Vittorio then traveled back South, to the University of Kentucky, for graduate school. As a Wildcat, he served as an assistant baseball coach and earned a master's degree in sport management. That spurned the next coaching opportunity, Vittorio's first as an NCAA head coach, at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne. He led the Mastodons to 80 wins in three seasons before head to the University of Dayton as the Flyers' head coach in 2000.
Vittorio's name would become synonymous with Dayton baseball as he led 18 different Flyer teams. His impact was swift as Dayton earned its first appearance in the Atlantic 10 Conference Baseball Tournament in just his second season. Eight years later, Vittorio guided the Flyers to a program-best 38-19 overall record and a 21-6 mark in Atlantic 10 competition. For his efforts, Vittorio was named the conference's Coach of the Year in 2009. Three years later, Dayton won the Atlantic 10 Tournament and earned the program's first berth in the NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament.
Throughout his time at Dayton, Vittorio's programs were heavily involved in the city's community. They participated with or in the Dayton Memorial Church's Kind Porgram, Building Bridges, Buddy Walk, the University's Christmas on Camps and Friends of Jaclyn Foundation. The later would have such in impact on Vittorio that he worked for the organization for one year before coming to Wilmington as head baseball coach, where he has alraedy begun the process of turning the program around.
