Bio

Still holding the school-record for home runs in a season (20) and in a career (36), former Cowley College great John Urick will be inducted into the Tiger Athletic Hall of Fame on Saturday, January 16.

Urick played baseball at Cowley during the 2001 and 2002 seasons. Prior to coming to Cowley Urick grew up around the game of baseball. His grandfather, Dorrel Norman Elvert “Whitey” Herzog, played in the major leagues from 1956-1963 and spent 18 seasons as a big league manager, most notably with the Kansas City Royals and St. Louis Cardinals. He won 1,281 games and captured three pennants and one World Series title with the Cardinals in 1982.

Urick attended numerous Cardinals games as a youngster. “I was very spoiled to get a chance to see the best of the best, up close and personal,” Urick said.

Urick’s first little league baseball team was even called the Cardinals. Growing up he was fortunate to play with the same group of kids all the way through middle school and high school. 

“We were a group that played ball any chance we got, whether it be in the back yard, in the street, or an organized game,” Urick said. “My little brother Stevenson was usually in on the action too.”

Urick’s high school baseball coach Brad Mayfield also coached the little league team because his son Andy was on the team. Andy played with Urick at Cowley in 2002. Urick played on that little league team until the age of 16 when he joined the American Legion Post 499 aux. A’s coached by Mike Rooney.

“It was a great chance to play against varsity competition,” Urick said. “American Legion was much more competitive back then, as club baseball was not as popular.”

Urick had an opportunity to play against future major league baseball players such as Albert Pujols and Brad Ziegler. As a 16 year old, he hit a grand slam in the Legion All-Star game and beat out Albert Pujols for the MVP award. 

“That was such a thrill,” Urick said. As a three-year varsity letterman at Blue Springs High as a pitcher and first baseman, Urick helped his team win the Missouri Class 5A State Championship in 1999. He followed that up by being named a First Team All-State pitcher in 2000. Coming out of high school, Urick had a few offers from 4-year schools to play baseball. 

“It was about a month after my senior year when a Phillies scout, Jerry Lafferty, told me that if I wanted to play professional baseball someday, to go to Cowley County. He said, “those boys will get you ready.” He was right,” Urick said.

During his first season at Cowley, Urick was a First-Team All-Conference First Baseman as a freshman and was named to the 2001 NJCAA World Series All-Tournament Team. He helped the Tigers capture the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division and Region VI titles as Cowley went on to place third in the nation with an overall record of 49-16. As a sophomore he was named First-Team NJCAA All-American, Jayhawk East Player of the Year, and First-Team All-Region. He was the Cowley College Student-Athlete of the Year and was selected in the 19th round of the Major League Baseball draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The 2002 squad finished 43-16 and made a return trip to the JUCO World Series as the Tiger baseball team went 92-32 during his two years at the school.

“I had some great teammates, that loved to compete and win,” Urick said.

Along with holding school records for home runs in a season and a career, Urick remains the school-record holder for walks in a season (60) and walks in a career (112). Urick said playing for Tiger coaches Dave and Darren Burroughs was quite an experience.

“They knew how to push me and get the most out of my ability,” Urick said. “They put me in a position to be successful, and to be a leader. I think what I learned the most is how to be mentally tough, and how to play with a target on your back. Cowley was like the (New York) Yankees, everyone gave us their best shot.”

Urick also looks back fondly on people from Cowley such as Peg Williams, Frank Arnold, Jason and Shannon O’Toole, Sally and David Palmer, and Rhoda and the late Scott MacLaughlin, as making his time at the school a memorable one. He also grew close to people in the community such as Kim Hocker, and Gary Hockenberry. 

“Those are relationships I will hold dear for a long time,” Urick said.

Urick met his wife Maggie (Campbell) while attending Cowley. She was queen Alalah and Homecoming Queen in 2001-2002 and a member of the Lady Tiger basketball team.

Some of his fondest memories on the baseball field are of hitting a game winning home run off the right field foul pole against Kansas City, for Coach Burroughs 500th win, and the trip to the JUCO World Series in 2001. “That was a special group,” Urick said.

After Cowley, he spent one season at Oklahoma State University before being drafted in the 22nd round and signing a professional contract with the Yankees. He would spend time in the Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies organizations before playing two years of independent baseball in Kansas City, New Jersey, and won a championship in 2010 with the Chico (CA) Outlaws.

In 2011 Urick started his coaching career with the Chicago Cubs organization. He was an assistant coach in Class A Daytona, and helped that team win the Florida State League Championship. After the season Urick began going back to school to get his teaching degree.

He and his wife, Maggie, decided to look at other options outside of pro baseball. The couple wanted to start a family, and they did that on Dec. 3, 2012 when their son JC was born. They have since added a one-year old daughter, Reese.

Urick began working that year in the Shawnee Mission School District as a special ed para, and got a coaching job with the Cavaliers Baseball Club, coaching high school summer baseball. He also stayed busy giving hitting and fielding lessons at 68’s Inside Sports.

Urick’s hard work paid off as he now teaches 6th grade, and coaches with the Cavaliers. 

“It is great working with young people and helping them during some of the craziest times in their lives,” Urick said.

Urick is humbled to be going into the Tiger Athletic Hall of Fame.

“It’s great to join my former coaches, athletic director, president, and my former teammate, Wes Detwiler, in this esteemed class,” Urick said. “It is also great to be inducted with Coach (Darin) Spence, who coached my wife in college. It means a lot to represent the two great teams that I was a member of in 2001-2002. I feel like I was a product of a great program, and the players around me always made me better. Individually, it means a lot because the Tiger Baseball program means a lot to me. I attribute much of my success to what I learned while playing for the Burroughs’ family, and I try to pass on some of those same lessons to the kids I coach today.”