Special from the University of South Carolina
Brookland-Cayce alumnus and University of South Carolina pitching great Kip Bouknight is headed to the College Baseball Hall of Fame.
He and former head coach Ray Tanner are among 21 inductees in the Class of 2025, announced Monday by the College Baseball Foundation. It’s scheduled to take place Feb. 12, 2026, in Overland Park, Ks.
The duo will be Carolina’s first inductees into the Hall of Fame, which was started in 2006
Bouknight is one of five Golden Spikes Award winners in this year’s class, joining Mike Loynd (Florida State), Phil Nevin (Cal State Fullerton), David Price (Vanderbilt) and Stephen Strasburg (San Diego State). Tanner is one of three coaches in the class to win a national championship, joining Ray Fisher (Michigan) and Clint Evans (California).
“We are beyond excited to welcome the 2025 Hall of Fame Class as we continue our planning for what will become their ‘home’ in Overland Park, Kansas in the College Baseball Hall of Fame”, CEO/Executive Director of the CBF and College Baseball Hall of Fame Tom Jacobs said. “This is another stellar class that represent the absolute best of college baseball. We look forward to celebrating and honoring their accomplishments as well as those of our CBF Award winners at the 2026 Night of Champions. We hope you will join us for their special evening.”
To be eligible for the College Baseball Hall of Fame ballot, players must be out of college for 15 years and have completed one year of competition at a two-year institution in the CCCAA, NJCAA or a four-year NCAA (Division I, II or III) or NAIA institution. Ballot-eligible coaches must be retired for two years or be active and no less than 75 years old.
Bouknight is the winningest pitcher in South Carolina history, compiling a career record of 45-12 with a school record 482 innings and starting a Carolina best 66 games. He holds school records for strikeouts (457) and decisions. In 2000, Bouknight went 17-1 to help lead the Gamecocks to a 55-10 record and an SEC championship.
After the 2000 season, Bouknight won the prestigious Golden Spikes Award, presented by USA Baseball as the top amateur baseball player in the United States as well as being named a consensus All-America selection by the ABCA, Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball. He helped Carolina to back-to-back Super Regional appearances in 2000 and 2001.
Tanner was the head coach of the Gamecocks for 16 years, leading the baseball program to unprecedented heights. He led USC to back-to-back national championships in 2010 and 2011 as well as a pair of runner-up finishes in 2002 and 2012. Carolina made six College World Series appearances during his time as head coach and won three SEC championships, six SEC Eastern Division crowns and an SEC Tournament title in 2004. He went to 10 NCAA Super Regionals and 14 NCAA Tournament appearances.
In the three years from 2010 to 2012, the Gamecocks established NCAA records with 22 consecutive postseason wins and 12 consecutive wins in the College World Series. Tanner won 738 games in his 16 seasons in Columbia and 1,133 overall wins between USC and NC State (1988-96) and was a three-time National Coach of the Year and three-time SEC Coach of the Year.
Tanner guided two players that won National Player of the Year honors (Bouknight, 2000; Michael Roth, 2011), two SEC Player of the Year honorees (Bouknight, 2000; Yaron Peters, 2002), one SEC Pitcher of the Year winner (David Marchbanks, 2003) and two SEC Boyd McWhorter Male Scholar-Athletes of the Year (Trey Dyson, 2002; Michael Roth, 2012). The field at Founders Park was named Ray Tanner Field in a ceremony in February of 2025.
Tanner also was the Athletics Director at South Carolina for over 12 years from 2012-24. Carolina won four national championships (2015 equestrian, 2017, 2022 and 2024 women’s basketball), 21 SEC regular season and tournament championships and have posted five of the top nine finishes in the Learfield IMG College Directors’ Cup All-Sports Standings in school history.
The event will serve as the ceremonial start to the 2026 college baseball season, which begins on Feb. 13, 2026. For more information regarding the 2026 Night of Champions and to reserve tickets, please visit the CBF website.
(Photo from University of South Carolina Athletic Communications)
