Morton College's 2005-06 back-to-back championship men's cross country teams and former major league pitcher Gene Walter are part of the class of new inductees for 2018 into the Illinois Skyway Collegiate Conference Hall of Fame Thursday, June 14th, at Oakton Community College in Des Plaines.

Gene Walter – baseball (1979-80)
Gene Walter is just one of two major league baseball players from Morton College. However, Walter is the only MLB player to have played baseball at Morton College. The other, Carmen Mauro, already had signed a professional contract with the Chicago Cubs in 1944 when he attended Morton College.

Walter, a left-handed pitcher, played at Morton College for the late Stan Pace in 1979 and 1980. He was 1-3 with a 4.04 ERA as a freshman and 3-3 with a 2.64 ERA as a sophomore. Walter was a First Team All-Skyway selection in 1980 and pitched two scoreless innings in the fourth annual Illinois Junior College All-Star Game at Wrigley Field.

As a freshman, Walter struck out 10 in a three-hit victory over McHenry. The following year, Walter fanned 10 in a 2-1 win over Elgin and 11 in a game against Kankakee.
Walter had the Skyway's fifth-lowest ERA at 1.67 during his sophomore season. He won half of Morton College's games that year. When Walter played at Morton College, the NJCAA baseball structure featured just one division, not the three that exists in today's format.

Walter went on to pitch two seasons at Eastern Kentucky University. He was drafted twice at Eastern Kentucky, first by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 25th round in 1981. A year later, San Diego selected Walter in the 29th round.

Walter pitched four seasons in the major leagues from 1985 to 1988 with the San Diego Padres, New York Mets and Seattle Mariners.

His major league debut came on Aug. 9, 1985. The Padres, the defending NL West champions, in the midst of a pennant race, 5½ games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Walter got the call out of the bullpen in the top of the seventh with the Padres holding on to a 5-4 lead over the Houston Astros. Bill Doran, the first hitter Walter faced in the majors, walked. Walter then got Phil Garner to hit into a 4-6-3 double play. He pitched three scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and striking out three to earn the save in San Diego's 6-4 win.

He became one of 82 pitchers in MLB history to register a save in their MLB debut.

The losing pitcher that day was Nolan Ryan, baseball's all-time strikeout leader and the owner of seven no-hitters. Walter's teammates that day were Tony Gwynn, Steve Garvey, Graig Nettles, Bruce Bochy and Dave Dravecky.

Walter also played with Gary Carter, Keith Hernandez, Darryl Strawberry, Ron Darling, Dwight Gooden and David Cone on the Mets and current MLB analyst Harold Reynolds on the Mariners.

His major-league record was 4-7 with a 3.74 ERA and four saves in 128 games. Walter appeared in 57 games and pitched 98 innings for the 1986 Padres, his career highs in both categories.

Walter played in the minors until 1993, compiling an overall mark of 42-43 with a 3.47 ERA.

Today, Gene Walter is a wealth manager at Guidance Capital Management Group in Louisville, Kentucky.

Men's cross country team (2005 and 2006)
Men's cross country coach Gus Coronado has won five Illinois Skyway Collegiate Conference and three Region IV championships in his 16 years at Morton College.

Without reservation, Coronado's best two teams were the back-to-back Illinois Skyway Collegiate Conference and Region IV championship teams of 2005 and 2006. Both were top 15 nationally at the NJCAA Division I national meet.

Marco Alfaro set the pace. He was the back-to-back Skyway individual champion, Region IV runner-up as a freshman and Region IV champion as a sophomore. His time of 26:49.3 at the 2005 Skyway finals is one of three known sub-27 minute performances.

Alfaro finished 22nd at nationals in 2005, the best finish of any Morton College men's cross country runner in program history.

In addition to Alfaro, the Panthers' core during over those two seasons included Antonio Salazar, Alfredo Delgado and Ricardo Almeida.

Salazar was the Skyway runner-up in both 2005 and '06. He placed fourth and second in Region IV and 37th and 35th at nationals. Delgado enjoyed a third and sixth-place finishes at Skyway and sixth and seven at the Region IV meet.

The 2005 Morton College edition went 1-2-3 in turning back Moraine Valley 29-48 to winning the Skyway crown. The Panthers edged Moraine Valley 38-43 the following week to claim the Region IV title and then finished 13th at the NJCAA Division I nationals.

It was just a prelude to one of the most dominating performances in Skyway history as the 2006 squad was just one point of a perfect 15. Seven of the first eight runners were from Morton College. While Jonathan Hernandez and Jorge Espinoza didn't count in the scoring, their seventh and eighth-place finishes were good enough to merit all-Skyway honors.

A week later, Morton College dominated the field at the Region IV meet in winning with an 18-point showing, 57 better than runner-up Waubonsee. Morton finished 1-2-3 and placed five of the top seven runners.

The Panthers went on to finish 14th at the NJCAA Division I nationals.