Year Inducted – 2017

The veteran coach is already accustomed to being inducted into halls of fame. Merritt became a charter member of the Northeast Ohio Baseball Hall of Fame in 2010 and was welcomed into the Ohio High School Coaches Hall of Fame in 2013. His first head coaching job was at Crestwood High School in 1979. While there, he helped organize the Summit County-Portage County All-Star Game and the Portage County All-Star Series. Merritt was selected Portage County Coach of the Year five times, and he compiled more than 400 wins before taking a job as pitching coach at Baldwin Wallace University in Berea, Merritt’s hometown. Merritt kept winning. In addition to amassing more than 100 victories in four seasons, the Yellow Jackets earned a trip to the 2014 Division III College World Series. For the past three years, Merritt has been pitching coach for Cuyahoga Community College. Merritt’s son Brett coaches baseball at Eastern New Mexico University.