Sooner legend, Ryan Minor, and long time Southeastern OK St coach, Mike Metheny, were named to the 2024 class of the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame on Tuesday.
Ryan Minor
Minor is known for being a two sport star at OU where he excelled on both the basketball court and the baseball diamond.
Prior to coming to OU, Minor was a star at Hammon High School in western Oklahoma where he was named to the 3rd team of the ABCA/Rawlings All America Team.
While at OU, Minor split his time between baseball and basketball. He’s mostly known for his exploits on the hardwood where he was a Big 8 Co Player of the Year (’95) and named to the Big 8 All Conference Team twice (’94 & ’95).
He was drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers in the 2nd round (31st overall), but was blocked at his position by Jerry Stackhouse and Clarence Weatherspoon.
On the diamond, Minor joined the Sooners when the basketball season was over manning the hot corner at 3rd base. He and his twin brother, Damon, were integral parts of the 1994 NCAA national championship team.
Minor was drafted in the 7th round of the 1994 MLB Draft by the New York Mets but chose to come back to Oklahoma. In 1995, he was chosen in the 33rd round by the Baltimore Orioles.
After his basketball career didn’t pan out, Minor turned to baseball. While he played parts of 4 seasons between the Orioles and Montreal Expos, Minor is probably most known for taking Cal Ripken, Jr.’s spot in the lineup when Ripken decided to end his record consecutive games played streak.
After his playing career, Minor coached in the independent, Atlantic League before coaching in the Orioles organization in 2008. Minor stayed with the Orioles through 2019. He spent his last 2 years coaching in the Detroit Tigers organization in 2020-2021.
In October 2022, it was announced that Minor had colon cancer. Just recently, it was announced that Minor was told by doctors that there wasn’t anything else they could do and he was placed in hospice care.
Mike Metheny
From The Oklahoman
He spent 40 years at Southeastern Oklahoma State as a baseball player, graduate assistant, assistant coach and head coach. He led Southeastern to its lone national championship in its second season at the Division II level in 2000. Metheny finished with a 1,324-679-3 (.660) record.
The Oklahoman
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