Baseball program to honor T-Mac

The late Tommy McMillan, who served as assistant coach for the Wayland Baptist baseball team for the past 15 years, will be honored during the Pioneers' home-opening series this weekend at Wilder Field.
 
A short, on-field tribute honoring "T-Mac" will be held in between games Friday. The Pioneers – who are wearing McMillan's initials on their helmets this season – play Peru St. (Neb.) in a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m., with the recognition set to begin around 3 p.m.
 
Members of Coach McMillan's family will be on hand. The public is invited. Admission to WBU baseball games is free.
 
The ceremony will be available for viewing at WBU's free live stream at www.wbuathletics.com/watch.
 
McMillan was involved in baseball in some fashion for most of his life. He grew up playing baseball in Plainview and went on to play third base at Texas Tech University from 1973-76.  After working for more than 30 years in the family's accounting firm and after serving as a volunteer assistant coach for the Pioneers for six years, he joined the Pioneer baseball team as full-time assistant coach in the summer of 2011. He considered it his dream job.
 
Throughout most of his life, McMillan was heavily involved with the local, regional and national Babe Ruth Baseball program. He coached, volunteered as a league officer and umpired many Babe Ruth regional and world series tournaments. He also was regional commissioner for several Southwest Regional tournaments.
 
McMillan died Sept. 5, 2021, at age 67.