ABCA Hall of Fame

The winner of the 1967 ABCA/Wilson Lefty Gomez Award was Colgate University's Everett "Eppy" Barnes.

One of Colgate University's most outstanding baseball and basketball players, Barnes left a career in business and banking to return to his alma mater in 1939 as baseball coach and Assistant Athletic Director. A 1922 graduate of Colgate, Barnes was appointed Director of Physical Education and Athletics at Colgate University in 1955, becoming the third Athletic Director in the college's history.

Barnes, who played with the Pittsburgh Pirates in the late twenties, was the first Director of Athletics to serve as president of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (1965-67).

Barnes, who was one of the founders of the ABCA, also served as its first president in 1945, retaining the position the following year in 1946. Barnes was also a past president of the United States Baseball Federation and the Eastern Intercollegiate Football Association. He was a founder and first president of the Eastern College Athletic Conference, the Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America (ICAAAA) and the Ice Hockey Association of America.

A 1966 ABCA Hall of Fame inductee, Barnes served as chairman of the NCAA Olympic Baseball Committee and was a leader in attempts to improve relations with professional baseball. He also was Director of the United States Olympic Committee and chairman of the Transportation Committee for the 1968 Games.

Barnes is a member of the United Savings-Helms Athletic Foundation Hall of Fame.

Named after the great Lefty Gomez, this annual award is presented to an individual who has distinguished himself among his peers and has contributed significantly to the game of baseball locally, nationally and internationally. The Lefty Gomez Award is sponsored by Wilson Sporting Goods.