JONESBORO, ARKANSAS – 03/01/16 – As the baseball season approaches, Gary McClure is grateful that his son, Alex McClure will have the opportunity to stay in the game of baseball. He is serving as an assistant coach under head coach Tommy Raffo at Arkansas State. Gary McClure was added to the team’s coaching staff in July of 2015. Prior to joining the Red Wolves’ pack, Alex served as an assistant coach and strength and conditioning coach at Clarksville’s Rossview High School, while he finished his college degree after retiring from professional baseball says Gary McClure.
According to Gary McClure and Rossviews head coach Jason Rice, Alex was instrumental in RHS’s recent successes, including a Varsity Team regional championship. McClure notes that Alex has been looking forward to the 2016 season and is ready to get things started. Alex is fortunate to have the opportunity to work under Coach Raffo, and couldn’t have a better mentor in my opinion! Tommy is a great person who also runs a great program. Gary McClure recently visited his son and daughter-in-law Kelly in Jonesboro and says the couple has settled into their new surroundings.
Alex McClure is a native of Clarksville, Tennessee, and played shortstop for East Tennessee’s Walters State Junior College which was ranked number one in the NJCAA almost the entire year and qualified for the Junior College World Series in Grand Junction Colorado. After his freshman year, he then went on to play in Nashville. at Vanderbilt University. According to Gary McClure, Alex transferred to Middle Tennessee State University in 2010 after hitting .378 for Vanderbilt. Alex sat out the 2010 season due to standard NCAA transfer rules, but was drafted anyway by the Kansas City Royals in the 11th round of that year, reports Gary McClure.
Alex McClure has followed in his father’s footsteps in more than just coaching. Like Gary McClure, Alex is a shortstop by trade. Gary McClure was an award-winning SS in the 1980s with the Dallas Amateur Baseball League. After playing with the Royals for three plus seasons, Alex was traded to the Miami Marlins. He joined the Jacksonville Suns, Miami’s Double A affiliate, before taking an early retirement to pursue coaching, says Gary McClure. Despite a short professional career, Alex McClure made his mark in professional baseball moving up the ladder toward the big leagues at a quick pace. He had the opportunity to play in the prestigious Arizona Fall League comprised of the top prospects from each Major League Baseball organization after his third season. He was known as an outstanding shortstop who the Royals ranked as their best defensive shortstop in the organization.
Gary McClure says his son graduated from MTSU in 2014 with a degree in organizational communication. He made the dean’s list in the spring and fall of 2010. That same year, he was presented with the Blue Raiders’ “Bust Your Butt” award given annually to the hardest working player in the program. Gary McClure mentions he was as proud of that award as any Alex ever received, because he did that while sitting out and not even being able to compete for a starting spot. That showed Gary McClure and his coaches the discipline, desire, pride, and work ethic that he had!
In 2012, reports Gary McClure, Alex was recognized by the Kansas City Royals as the winner of the Mike Sweeney Award. This goes to the the player in their organization who most accurately represents the organization’s dedication and play both on and off the field. Gary McClure says he is proud of his son’s accomplishments and is excited to watch his coaching career unfold.
Gary McClure is the former head coach for the Austin Peay State University Governors. McClure retired in 2015, after achieving the record for most wins in any sport in the OVC’s nearly seven decade history.