Baseball

Eisenhower High School

Class of 1966

Inducted October 2019

Eisenhower HS class of 1966
Donald Spain was so excited when he was advised that he had been selected, but Donald Spain's lengthy battle with cancer ended sometime during the night of July 4th.
While Don is not physically here with us, his wife, children and friends are here. One of Don’s dearest friends, one of whom was responsible for providing the Hall of Fame committee with detailed and accurate information and that was District 61 Hall of Famer himself, Roe Skidmore. Spain was one of the hardest throwing pitchers to not only come out of Eisenhower, but all of Decatur and Central Illinois. There's so much I could say about Spain and his storied career, but we'll cite these few nuggets of information that highlight why Don is one of our inductees.

Fifty-three years ago the Los Angeles Dodgers drafted him to pitch for them in the draft of 1966 when he pitching for Eastern Illinois.

Spain was once on the Atlanta Braves 40-man roster when MLB Hall of Famers Joe Torre and Hank Aaron along with others played. In fact, Spain struck out the legendary Torre in an intra squad game.

After Don’s playing career, he went on to be a pitching coach for the American Legion teams and managed the Mt Zion Legion players to their first and one Legion State Tournament.