Missouri State

KEITH CHAMPIO
Baseball, 1978-81
Inducted 2009

Keith Champion was a four-year letterman and three-year starting catcher for the baseball Bears of coach Bill Rowe from 1978 to 1981 in a highly-successful era near the end of the Bears' Division II days. Champion played on an NCAA Division II regional champion and World Series team in 1978 and NCAA regional participants in 1979 and 1980 as well as the Bears' final MIAA championship team in 1979. Always a solid defensive receiver, Champion made remarkable strides at the plate as he taught himself to be a switch-hitter over his final two seasons and saw his batting average jump from .257 in 1979 to .339 in 1980 to .400 in 1981. A workhorse performer from Granite City, Ill., he was an MIAA all-conference first team selection his last two years and an ABCA Division II all-region first team honoree as a junior and senior. He signed as a catcher with the St. Louis Cardinals to begin a professional baseball career which is now nearing 30 years as a player, coach, manager and scout. He has worked for the Cardinals, San Diego Padres, Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox and will begin a new phase in his career in 2009 when he becomes a Special Assistant to the General Manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates.