This is the fifth in a series of articles profiling the 2022 Butler County Sports Hall of Fame inductees.

STATE COLLEGE — Clint Eury could just plain hit.

He wound up doing damage to hitters as well.

That combination has earned the 2001 Butler graduate a berth in the Butler County Sports Hall of Fame. He will be inducted — along with 11 other individuals — during the organization’s annual banquet at 6 p.m. Sept. 24 at the Lyndora American Legion hall.

“I’m very excited by this,” Eury said of his induction. “To be included among the best athletes in Butler County is a great honor.”

Eury had a decorated high school baseball career at Butler. He hit .541 his junior year and .412 as a senior while anchoring the first base position for the Golden Tornado. He was Butler’s team batting champion in 2000, won the Baseball Coach’s Golden Glove Award in 2001 and the varsity baseball Allen Fejko Academic Award that same season.

He pitched occasionally in high school, but made a name for himself on the mound in later years at Penn State University.

“Baseball’s always been my No. 1 game,” Eury said. “I was the batboy for my older brother’s (Bob) all-star team. That’s where it started for me.”

Eury did play football until his sophomore year in high school. He was a left-handed quarterback for the East Buitler Bulldogs of the BAMFL, but suffered a pair of right shoulder dislocations during his gridiron days.

“Since I’m left-handed, the shoulder injuries never affected my throwing,” Eury said. “But at the same time, I figured it was time for me to concentrate on baseball.

“My dream for a long time was to play quarterback at Beaver Stadium. When the football dream died out and Penn State offered me a baseball scholarship, it was still a place I wanted to be.”

And he thrived there.

A four-year letterman with the Nittany Lions, Eury was a consistent hitter as the team’s first baseman. He became a relief pitcher his sophomore year, during a non-conference doubleheader against Cornell.

“Our coach wanted to save on pitching for our Big Ten games, so he asked if somebody wanted to take the mound in the last inning against Cornell,” Eury said. “I jumped at the chance. I did pretty good and wound up getting a chance to pitch against Illinois as a reliever.”

In that Illinois series, Eury had nine hits in 13 at bats, including a home run and three doubles. He recorded a save as well. During his senior year, he emerged as one of the Big Ten’s top three closers, sporting a 4-0 record with three saves, a 0.43 earned run average and a 15-inning scoreless streak. He went on to become Penn State’s all-time saves leader.

And his senior season almost didn’t happen.

“After my junior year, I was undrafted (by the major leagues), but was offered a free agent contract by the Reds after the draft,” Eury said. “It was tempting, but I only had a year left of school and I wanted to graduate on time. I thought I might get drafted after my senior year, alsdo.”

As fate would have it, Eury was hit by a pitch during the 13th game of his senior season, breaking his right hand. He continued to play with a cast on under his glove, but in the last game against Illinois, he dove for a ball, landed on that hand and broke it again.

The Toronto Blue Jays offered him a one-week rehab assignment and tryout in June, “but there was too much risk involved there,” Eury said. “That’s when my dream of playing professional baseball ended.”

He graduated with a degree in Labor Industrial Relations and is employed at Penn State, working in administration in the human resources field. Eury and his wife, Jennifer, have two small children and live in State College.

“I’m helping to coach my 8-year-old son’s all-star baseball team,” Eury said. “Baseball is such a great sport. My family’s involved in it now and I love it.

“I’m putting on baseball clinics for ages 6-18 in State College. Some of the kids I’ve worked with are in the minor leagues now. That’s pretty rewarding.”

For Eury, so was playing at Pullman Park.

“There’s so much history there,” he said. “I hit a home run to dead center field, 424 feet away. Just playing there, and making lifelong friends growing up with baseball in Butler, are my fondest memories.”

Tickets for the banquet are $30 in advance and will soon be available at Parker Appliance in Chicora, Saxonburg Drug, the Butler Radio Network, Maddalon Jewelers in Zelienople and at www.bcshof.com. Tickets will be $35 at the door.