02/02/2022
Fireshoe would like to congratulate Rob Colley for his induction into the Lower Columbia College Athletics Hall of Fame for his outstanding baseball career.
Rob has been involved with Fireshoe over the years as an actor, stunt performer, musician, and associate producer. He also plays a role in our upcoming feature film comedy: Bigfoot Killed My Wife.
Rob, with his amazing athletic ability to track down the ball, played center field and batted .492 his senior year at Tenino High School. During his time in high school, he also played summer baseball for the competitive Connie Mack “Olympia” Pepsi team. During his four years there, he helped them win two national Connie Mack Championships in Russiaville and Kokomo, Indiana.
Lower Columbia College (LCC) coach Kelly Smith heard about a kid who could hit in the small town of Tenino, so he took a drive to watch a game. "I saw him bat twice and said to myself, this guy's for me,” said Smith.
Rob was recruited by Smith and joined the LCC baseball team in 1996, where he helped the Red Devils win back-to-back NWAC titles. "He worked hard. I had a tough time getting him out of the batting cage," said Smith.
After having a breakout freshman year as an outfielder and excellent hitter, Rob was tasked with playing first base after LCC’s starting first baseman suffered a season-ending injury right before the season started.
During Rob’s off-season, he was determined to improve his batting average. Learning about the power of the mind and the benefit of visual/mental training and making specific goals, he wrote down and told his family and friends he was going to bat .500 the following season. At the college level, a .500 batting average is almost unheard of, and setting a goal like that would be considered impossible by most.
Coach Smith said, "Rob deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. I'm proud of what he did at LCC and at OSU. He is the best pure hitter I've ever coached and that's saying a lot because I've coached a lot of great players. He's the best Pac-10 recruit I ever had."
Amazingly, Rob entered the record books as he went on to bat exactly .500 with 8 homeruns, 53 RBIs, 55 runs, 11 steals, and only one error at the first base position. He was also voted "All League" and "All Tournament" both years at LCC. He was the NWAC MVP and was three homeruns shy of the triple crown for league leader in batting average, home runs, and RBIs. The .500 batting average record has yet to be beaten.
Regarding Rob’s Hall of Fame selection, LCC athletic director Kirc Roland said, "Rob Colley was a great player at Lower Columbia. He's been on the watch list for a long time."
Rob played baseball his junior and senior years for Oregon State University (OSU).
During the summer before his OSU senior year, Rob was looking for a competitive team to play with during the off-season and was asked to play for a semi-pro team, the 1998 Tacoma Timbers, a dominant summer collegiate team that played their home games at Cheney Stadium. The team traveled throughout the U.S. and Canada while tallying 42 wins and just 8 losses. The team was loaded with the best D1 talent from the West Coast. Rob’s coach, Barry Aden (Tacoma Timbers Manager from '94 to '98 and a 33 year coach of summer collegiate baseball) said, "I built my team around Rob Colley, a star at Oregon State. He batted 3rd in our line-up, hitting over .415 for the summer and was a solid defender in the outfield as well as first base. Rob was a tremendous player but an even better leader on and off the field for a team of college all-stars."
During his time at OSU, Rob managed to tie the single season RBI record with 62 RBIs in his junior year. Rob fractured his wrist in his final senior season, and it was not correctly diagnosed until 31 games into the season, which greatly affected his swing to the point of not being able to grip the bat. Despite this injury he managed an overall OSU batting average of .346, with 7 homeruns and 83 RBIs.
OSU head coach Pat Casey said, "Rob was a hell of a player and a good kid too. He was kind of a silent assassin. He didn't say a whole lot but when he got into the box he did a lot of damage. I know he would have started and hit on any of the teams that I ever coached and that's a great compliment to him because we've had a lot of really, really good players that have gone on to become major league players. Had we been getting the exposure that we've been getting in the last fifteen years, his professional opportunities would have been greatly enhanced. He was a tremendous athlete."
We're proud of Rob Colley and his success and honor of being inducted into the LCC Athletics Hall of Fame. Congratulations!