Induction Class of 1997

David Keyser was rated by George Van Dyke as one of the top two pitchers he coached during his 20-year tenure as Earlham’s baseball coach. The four-year starting pitcher threw a collegiate-career total of 168 1/3 innings, yielding just 53 runs, 106 hits and 13 walks while striking out 146 batters. A captain for the 1939 and 1940 seasons, he most often matched up against the opponent’s top hurler and still managed a 12-7 win-loss record. Keyser set three Earlham single-season records during the Quakers’ undefeated 1937 campaign by allowing just 1.2 runs per game and .455 hits per inning, and walking only one batter during the entire season. That season, he’s best remembered for a 1-0, 16-inning conquest of Butler. Also a four-year letterman in basketball, Keyser was captain and most valuable player of the 1939-40 Quakers. As a senior, the center was the team’s second-leading scorer with 129 points, including a season-high 19 points in a 49-41 win at DePauw. Keyser, former supervisor of the Clearwater Parks & Recreation Department in Florida, received his Hall of Fame induction posthumously.