(Daniel Franklin will be inducted into the WBU Athletics Hall of Honor along with Mark Adams, Kirby Dunn, Serenity King, Kristina Edwards Lee, Joe Lombard, Dr. Claude Lusk, Don Christa & Caren Smith, and Jodie Young during ceremonies at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 23 in the Laney Center. Ray Murphree will be awarded the Harley Redin Coach's Award. A continental breakfast begins at 8:30. The public is invited).
While things like throwing a no-hitter and earning the program's first victory in a regional playoff game were special, his many on-field accomplishments aren't what Daniel Franklin remembers most about his time at Wayland Baptist. Instead, it's what he called "the eternal things."
"My favorite memories were seeing fellow teammates like
Josh Milner coming to know the Lord. I remember the Bible studies, a mission trip to Nicaragua and the trips to Lubbock to a worship service called Paradigm more fondly than I do the athletic accomplishments," said Franklin, just the second Pioneer baseball player (Michael Reyes, 2009) and the first pitcher to be inducted into the WBU Athletics Hall of Honor.
Franklin made quite an impact while playing for the Pioneers from 1999-2003. He earned NAIA Honorable Mention All-American honors as a reliever and ranks in the top five in no fewer than four career statistical categories. But Franklin says Wayland made more of an impact on him than he did the Pioneer baseball program, which was less than a decade old when he arrived.
When Franklin arrived in Plainview he was a relatively "new" Christian, having accepted Christ when he was 16 years old.
"No one else in my family was a believer, and I was really looking for some guidance," he recalled of how he came to know Christ and ultimately find Wayland.
A self-proclaimed "party kid," Franklin was "a big-shot baseball player making bad choices all over the place."
Then he "got tricked by some pretty girls" into attending church camp at Mt. Lebanon near Dallas the summer before his senior year of high school. Franklin came up with excuse after excuse not to go.
"At first I couldn't go because I was playing baseball all summer, then I broke my leg sliding into second base so I couldn't play anymore. Then I told them I couldn't afford it. But they came back and told me they found a scholarship to pay for it.
"I didn't have any more excuses."
On his crutches and in front of 2,000 people, Franklin turned his life over to Christ.
Being a Christian, however, wasn't easy, especially when he got back to Sherman. Franklin had to find new friends, and he eventually started a club called First Priority, a once-a-week Bible study which he led. Franklin also went on a couple of eye-opening mission trips to New Orleans.
About that time Franklin's parents went through a divorce. As a result, he wound up living his senior year of high school in his childhood home with older brother Michael and a couple of his high school roommates.
Besides Christ, the one constant in Franklin's life was baseball, a sport his dad Joe, a salesman at Home Depot, loved and one which he also fell in love with after getting a relatively late start at age 9.
"That first year I was the worst player in the league," he said. "My coach told me to run out and play shortstop, and I had to ask where that was."
Because his family didn't have a lot of money, Franklin's his first baseball glove came from Goodwill, and "I was the only kid in the league with a wooden bat.
"But I enjoyed the sport a lot and spent the whole next year practicing. I discovered I had a decent arm, and my brother and I went from being the worst players in the league to two of the best."
Franklin played on travel teams in the Dallas area, including one which qualified for the 13-Year-Old NBC World Series in Springfield, Mo. "I threw a complete game shutout and hit a two-run home run against a team from Wisconsin," he said.
Three years later Franklin was part of an AAU Jr. Olympics team that traveled to Des Moines, Iowa, and in high school he was a three-year varsity letterman and voted district MVP.
Because he didn't have much guidance at home as far as which college to attend, Franklin credits a high school assistant coach for steering him to Wayland, as well as a friend who already was playing for the Pioneers.
"A buddy of mine, Kurt Klug, was playing baseball at Wayland and he contacted Coach (Brad) Bass. I went out for an individual tryout and threw a few fastballs and my change-up and Coach Bass said, 'I think we've got a place on our team for you.'"
Wayland proved pivotal in Franklin's growth, both as a Christian and as a man.
"I felt like God was calling me to be at Wayland Baptist. When I first got there every time I felt like I would take a break, whether I was getting tired of school or baseball or whatever, I would talk to Coach Bass or Dr. (Claude) Lusk and they would motivate me to continue. I really appreciated that about Wayland," said Franklin, who also mentioned longtime religion professor Dr. Fred Meeks and Dr. Otto Schacht, then dean of the School of Business, as important role models.
Too, Franklin – who graduated with a business administration degree – said he benefited tremendously by learning from two of the best business/marketing instructors in Drs. Lusk and current university president Bobby Hall. Not wanting to let them down, he said, was more of a motivating factor to make good grades than anything. "I didn't want to disappoint them. That's just the kind of men they were.
"I felt like Wayland was a place I could grow as a person and not just get an education. Everything worked out for a reason in that manner. I loved it."
All the while, the 6-foot-2, 215-pound right-hander continued to develop his baseball talents.
Franklin's freshman season the Pioneers won a then school-record 40 games. Then, after dropping off a bit the next two years, going 29-26-2 and 20-37, Franklin and his teammates recommitted themselves.
"We had a really rough year my junior year, but we learned what it was going to take to win. So all of us buckled down and worked harder than we ever worked before. There was a culture of winning between the lines and in the classroom."
Franklin said he and the squad's other seniors, including fellow pitchers Felix Castillo and Matt Jones, helped orchestrate the turnaround that saw the Pioneers finish tied for second in the Sooner Athletic Conference, winning three of four games against Lubbock Christian in a regular-season ending series to ensure a spot in the playoffs. Wayland went on to secure the program's first-ever win at the regional tournament, 7-2 over Northwestern Oklahoma State. Franklin was the starting pitcher.
The season came to a close after the next game, a 5-3 loss to Northwood. Wayland wound up with a 36-28 record.
"The way we carried ourselves, I felt like it was very God-honoring," Franklin said in looking back on his senior campaign.
Early in the year, Franklin produced what at the time was just the second no-hitter in the history of Wayland. It came in a 3-0 victory over Incarnate Word in San Antonio.
Making the most of his fastball, change-up and slider, Franklin struck out one and walked five in the seven-inning contest, but what he remembers most vividly is that Coach Bass was not there to see it. Bass's youngest son, Will (who played for the Pioneers from 2015-17), joined the team on the road trip and before the first pitch slammed his finger in the bathroom door.
"Coach Bass grabbed him and took the bus and went to the ER," Franklin said. "He missed the entire game."
Besides his catcher, Milner (affectionately known as 'Worm'), "I don't think many people knew I was throwing a no-hitter." And because Bass was at the hospital, graduate assistant coach Ryan Silvas was managing the game.
"I walked the first batter in the final inning and Coach Silvas came out to talk to me, but 'Worm' yelled to leave me alone, so he went back to the dugout," Franklin said with a laugh. The Pioneers promptly turned a double-play before recording the final out.
As a senior Franklin posted a 10-6 record with a 3.83 ERA, and opposing batters hit just .239 in 105 2/3 innings against him. He was named Honorable Mention NAIA All-American as a reliever, although he made just five relief appearances while working as the No. 2 starter.
"I had told Coach Bass before the season that I wasn't planning on playing after my senior year, so he could use me as much as he wanted (and not worry about overusing his arm). So I started game two on Fridays and closed on Saturday," said Franklin, who is second in program history in career innings pitched (267). Additionally, he is tied for fourth in career wins (20), tied for second in saves (10) and ranks fifth in strikeouts (213).
"I never followed stats much. I just went out there and competed," Franklin said. "I wasn't an individual goal-type person, but I loved being part of a team."
And he loved his teammates, including roommate Jones.
"At first I had a room to myself, but Matt asked if he could move in with me," Franklin said.
Come to find out, Coach Bass paired the two because he knew they could help each other figure things out.
"Matt said he came to Wayland to get his life straightened out. We were like two peas in a pod," said Franklin.
He remains close with Jones, Milner, Landon Terry and many of his other teammates, with whom he shares his WBU Athletics Hall of Honor recognition.
"I'm honored to represent Wayland Baptist baseball, which has had a lot of great players. But I don't see this as just myself. Baseball is a brotherhood. You have to have a collection of individual performances for the entire team to do well. Being with a group of guys always pushed me to give everything I had."
Franklin earned the Champions of Character Award in 2002 and the Roscoe Snyder Award for being Wayland's top male athlete his senior year before working in the university's admissions department for three years.
Today, he lives in Bentonville, Ark., where he works closely with Walmart as a national account manager for Coty Inc., a company specializing in nail care and fragrances.
Franklin was recognized by Wayland with the Distinguished Young Alumni Award in 2010, at which time he was asked to throw out the ceremonial first pitch at a Pioneer baseball game.
"I threw it in the dirt," he laughed.
Franklin serves as the director of men's ministries at Grace Point Church in Bentonville and also volunteers in the church's children's ministries department. He leads weekly discipleship groups and coaches his son Cooper's baseball team. He and wife LeAudra also have another son, Colby, age 6.
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