Donn Alvin Clendenon, c/o 1956

Donn Alvin Clendenon (July 15, 1935 – September 17, 2005) played in Major League Baseball as a first baseman from 1961-1972. He is most notable for his performance during the 1969 World Series when he won the World Series Most Valuable Player Award by hitting three home runs to help lead the team known as the Miracle Mets to an upset victory over the Baltimore Orioles.

Clendenon graduated as a letterman in nine sports at Booker T. Washington High School in Atlanta, GA and received a host of scholarship offers. He was prepared to attend UCLA on a scholarship until some coaches from Morehouse College visited his mother, and convinced her that he should attend a school closer to home.

Just before Clendenon arrived in 1952, the freshman class were assigned "Big Brothers" to help the students acclimate themselves to Morehouse and college life. Although the policy had ended when he arrived, a Morehouse graduate volunteered to be Clendenon's big brother; his name was Martin Luther King, Jr.

Clendenon became a twelve-time letterman in football, basketball and baseball at Morehouse, and had received contract offers from both the Cleveland Browns and the Harlem Globetrotters.  Clendenon, however, decided he wanted to teach, and began teaching fourth grade upon graduation. Williams convinced Clendenon to attend a Pittsburgh Pirates try-out camp in 1957, and he signed with the team as an amateur free agent shortly afterwards.

SIAC HALL OF FAME - 2014