CCRI’s Hopkins to receive lifetime achievement award

Posted 2/12/15

Community College of Rhode Island baseball coach Ken Hopkins will receive an Amby Smith Lifetime Achievement Award at the 69th annual Words Unlimited banquet on Sunday, March 1, at the West Valley …

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CCRI’s Hopkins to receive lifetime achievement award

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Community College of Rhode Island baseball coach Ken Hopkins will receive an Amby Smith Lifetime Achievement Award at the 69th annual Words Unlimited banquet on Sunday, March 1, at the West Valley Inn. Words Unlimited is Rhode Island’s organization of sportswriters, sportscasters and publicists.

Hopkins, who has served as head coach of the CCRI baseball team since 2001, became the college’s baseball coach with the highest winning record when the Knights defeated Roxbury Community College, 11-6, in March 2011. The CCRI graduate has compiled a record of 354-164-2 to date, surpassing his former coach Harold “Whitey” Fell, who led the baseball team from 1966 to 1984, for this distinction.  

Hopkins played for Johnston High School, receiving All-Division honors. He competed at CCRI under Fell from 1974-76, serving as the team’s starting pitcher and earning an 8-2 record. In 1975, he set a single-season record with a .29 ERA. He transferred to Rhode Island College, garnering a 7-2 record with three saves and a 3.22 ERA in 78-1/3 innings pitched as an Anchorman.

Hopkins began coaching for the Johnston youth leagues in 1970 and coached at several high schools, including Our Lady of Providence, La Salle Academy and Johnston High School. In 1981, at age 27, he returned to CCRI to serve as the Knights’ pitching coach. Two years later, he took the reins from coach Fell as interim head coach, leading the team to a 20-7 season – the Knights’ best record in program history to that point and the college’s first national baseball ranking.

Following the breakout season, Hopkins served as head coach of RIC’s baseball team, guiding the Anchormen to a 68-62-2 record between 1985 and 1989. In 1986, he also began coaching the RIC women’s basketball team. Over the course of 12 seasons, he led the Anchorwomen to a 181-156 record and boasts the all-time wins record for the program.

Hopkins took an 11-year hiatus from coaching baseball, but jumped at the chance to once again lead the CCRI Knights. Since his return in 2001, he has accrued a long list of accolades, including four NJCAA Region XXI (New England) Division II championships and Coach of the Year awards in 2001, 2002, 2009 and 2012. The Knights’ 2012 season included a trip to the NJCAA Division II World Series in Enid, Okla. He has coached some of the nation’s top Division I players in the Florida Collegiate Summer League and the New England Collegiate Baseball League.

Hopkins’ coaching philosophy stresses the importance of success off the field as much as on the field – “Play hard, respect the game and be on time.”

He has guided numerous athletes to transfer to four-year colleges and play at the professional level, including 2008 CCRI graduate George Tager, who transferred to the University of Maine, continuing at the Division I level for two more years and now serves on Maine’s coaching staff.

“He’s a great mentor and teacher, not only of the game, but of life lessons as well,” Tager said.  

Hopkins has coached and influenced other CCRI graduates who have stayed in the game such as Idris Liasu, assistant coach of the URI baseball team, and Drew Powell, assistant baseball coach and teacher at St. Cloud High School in Florida. Powell, who counts Hopkins as one of the most important figures in his life, recalls that his former coach “always said that the definition of character was how an individual acted when they thought no one was watching.”

Powell added that he uses this teaching not only with his players on the field but also with his students in the classroom.  

CCRI assistant baseball coach and former tri-captain Cody Ortega said he is still learning from the valuable teachings from his coach.

“He has taught me to think about my actions, to understand the consequences and how they will affect not only me but everyone around me,” Ortega said.

Hopkins continues his journey as the Knights’ leader with a positive outlook on the 2015 season, saying this year’s team is “one of the finest squads in recent memory.”

In addition to coaching at CCRI, Hopkins served as director of athletics for Cranston Public Schools from 1988 to 2001. He has also served as a teacher at Cranston East since 2001. Hopkins resides in Cranston with his wife of 36 years, Mary. He has three children, Ken Jr., Lauren and Katelyn, and three grandchildren, Lily, Johnny and Kenneth John III.

Knights continue to improve at second Wesleyan meet

The CCRI Knights’ men’s track team traveled back to Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn last weekend to compete in their third indoor meet of the season.  

Connor Williamson (West Warwick, R.I.) led the Knights with a fifth place leap in the long jump with a season-best effort of 6.16 meters. Williamson also placed sixth in the triple jump with a leap of 12.12m. He rounded out his day by placing 12th in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 9.72 seconds. Lee Mandanici (Medina, Ohio) also had a good day at Wesleyan, placing eighth in the 200-meter with a time of 24.01 seconds and then placed 10th in the 400-meter with a time 54.46 seconds. Cooper Ferreira (Westerly, R.I.) placed 11th in the 800-meter run with a season-best time of 2 minutes, 7.30 seconds. Javier Vasquez (Providence, R.I.) placed 12th in the long jump with a 5.52-meter effort. Middle-distance runner Ian Anderson (Warwick, R.I.) placed 23rd in the 800-meter run with a season-best time of 2:22.88. Ranier Martinez (North Providence, RI.) ran his best 60-meter dash of the year, placing 30th with a time of 8.13 seconds. Martinez also placed 37th in the 200-meter dash with a time of 26.44 seconds. Rounding out the Knights’ top performances was thrower Tylar Rodrigues (North Providence, R.I.), who placed 32nd in the shot put with a 9.35-meter toss.  

“Everyone put good efforts out there, considering the tough week with the big snow storm that put quite a damper on practice times,” Knights’ head coach Gregg Cornell said.

The next meet for the Knights will be Friday, Feb. 13 and Saturday Feb. 14 at the Boston University Valentine’s Invitational. They will begin Friday at 2 p.m. and Saturday at 10 a.m.

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