Eric Owens used to play on the Ferrum College baseball team with Billy Wagner.
Now Owens is the head coach of that team. And his former teammate has been elected to Cooperstown.
Wagner is part of the new class of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, which was announced Tuesday night. It was the seven-time All-Star reliever’s 10th and final time on the Baseball Writers’ Association of America ballot.
Owens called his former Ferrum suite mate on Tuesday night to congratulate him. Owens said they were both emotional and excited.
“We’re very good friends and we talk pretty much daily,” Owens said Wednesday in a phone interview. "It was well-earned for him to be able to get in. Sometimes it takes a little longer than we all wanted, but … he’s a Hall of Famer for the rest of his life. It’s a big feather in Ferrum College’s cap and Ferrum College baseball’s cap.
“He finally got it done. I told him, ‘You’ve got to wait till the last inning every time to do something.’”
Wagner, who pitched for Ferrum from 1991-93, became the first former NCAA Division III player to be elected to Cooperstown.
Owens, who was named the 1992 Division III player of the year, likes to joke with Wagner that Wagner is only the second-best player in Ferrum history.
“Billy definitely is the best,” Owens clarified.
Former Ferrum baseball coach Abe Naff, who coached Wagner and Owens, also spoke with Wagner on Tuesday night.
“It’s just so exciting,” Naff said Wednesday in a phone interview. "It couldn’t happen to a better person.
“I really enjoyed watching his journey, watching him improve through college and then following his pro career. … So proud of him.”
Wagner, who is now the baseball coach at The Miller School in Albemarle County, has been moonlighting as a volunteer assistant for Owens at Ferrum. He helped out at fall practice and has helped with recruiting. He also eyes video of the pitchers.
Owens, who was hired by Ferrum last summer, figures Wagner making it to Cooperstown will be a big recruiting boost.
“It puts Ferrum on the map,” said Owens, a former major league outfielder. “We’re in a remote area, but to be able to have Billy Wagner call some of these pitchers that we’re trying to recruit, I think it’s going to be a big-time help for us.”
Naff, who stepped down as Ferrum’s coach in 2007, is also serving as a volunteer assistant for Owens.
Owens played for Ferrum from 1990-92, earning Division III first-team All-America honors at shortstop his final two years. He turned pro after being picked by the Cincinnati Reds in the fourth round of the 1992 draft.
Wagner was 17-3 with a 1.63 ERA and 327 strikeouts in 182 1/3 innings at Ferrum. He struck out 109 batters in 51 1/3 innings as a sophomore in 1992, and earned Division III first-team All-America honors in 1993. He turned pro after being drafted by Houston in the first round in 1993.
“Powerful left arm to go with a big heart and a competitive spirit,” Naff said. "He was such a hard worker.
“The only negative was his height; he was as strong as he could be.”
Wagner was only 5-foot-7 in high school, so he had just one Division I scholarship offer — from Virginia Tech. But Wagner did not think he would fit academically at Tech, so he opted for Ferrum.
“I saw him when he was a sophomore at Tazwell,” Naff said. “He had a good arm. (But) he was just 130 pounds.”
Wagner threw 80 mph in high school, but his velocity increased to 92-95 mph as a Ferrum freshman.
“He really didn’t know where the ball was going back then (as a freshman),” Owens said. “He developed into a pitcher. He was a thrower to start with.”
“His ball just exploded at the cut of the grass in front of home plate,” Naff said. “It was a very lively fastball.”
Wagner and Owens played both baseball and football for Ferrum. But Wagner’s college football career did not last as long as Owens’ did.
Wagner was a safety as a Ferrum freshman in the fall of 1990. But when then-defensive coordinator Dave Davis saw Wagner pitch the following spring, Davis was amazed.
“I said, ‘I don’t think this boy needs to play football anymore. He’s got a golden arm,’” Davis said Wednesday in a phone interview. “As I watched through the season, I just decided.”
So at the end of the 1991 baseball season, Davis told Wagner he was off the football team. Davis did not want Wagner hurting his left arm.
“He was in my office and I just told him, ‘You’re no longer on the football team.’ And he was furious,” Davis said. "I told him why. He said, ‘I came here to play football and baseball.’
"I told him, ‘You have a very special arm and you’re going to use it and you’re going to be a great one.’ And he still left mad. I don’t think he spoke to me the rest of the time he was at Ferrum.
“He wrote me a letter after he signed with Houston, saying he understood and appreciated it now.”
Davis is proud of Wagner for making it Cooperstown
“He always gave everything he had in everything he did,” said Davis, who retired as Ferrum’s head football coach in 2010. “He deserves this.”
Wagner was both a starting pitcher and a reliever in college. He would start the Friday games and serve as the closer for the Saturday and Sunday games.
“He had two pitches — hard and harder,” Naff said. “He didn’t finesse anyone. Everyone knew what was coming and he still dominated.”
Wagner used to hold the Division III records for the most strikeouts in a career (327) and in a season (133). He still holds the Division III marks for the most strikeouts per nine innings in a season (19.1) and career (16).
“Billy thought he should be a center fielder instead of a pitcher,” Owens said. “He was just an OK hitter. … But he had a golden arm.”
After his sophomore season in 1992, Wagner pitched in the Cape Cod League — the most prestigious NCAA-sanctioned summer circuit for college players. He did so well there that some Division I coaches asked him that summer to transfer. But Wagner turned them down.
“He had loyalty to Ferrum,” Naff said.
Ferrum made the Division III playoffs in all three of Wagner’s seasons at the school.
Wagner pitched in the majors from 1995-2010, while Owens played in the majors for parts of nine seasons (1995-2003).
“I hit a home run off him (in the majors),” Owens said.
Wagner will be back at Ferrum on Feb. 1 to be the guest speaker at the baseball team’s fundraising gala. He will be at Virginia Tech on Feb. 8 to be the guest speaker at the Hokies’ baseball fundraising banquet.