By Paul Suellentrop 

Damon Sublett grew up watching Shockers such as Kevin Hooper, Zach Sorensen and Randy Young play at Eck Stadium. Years later, he became one of the many Kansans who followed them into Wichita State baseball.

"Those guys seemed bigger than life to me," he said. "It was just a cool experience."

Watching Sublett shine in his roles was also a cool experience for Shocker fans from 2005-07. Sublett, a member of the 2026 class of the Pizza Hut Shocker Sports Hall of Fame, earned All-American honors in 2006 at second base and was a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy, given to the national player of year.

"He was a clutch hitter," former Shockers coach Gene Stephenson said. "Great swing. He did a marvelous job as a closer."

Sublett played at Wichita Northwest High School, where he earned All-Class 6A honors twice. His time as a young fan at Eck Stadium made Wichita State his first choice when Stephenson recruited him.

"I always felt like it was Wichita State or bust," he said. "I didn't want to go anywhere else."

Sublett hit .351 for his career with 34 doubles, nine triples and 16 home runs. He stole 39 bases, scored 145 runs and drove in 126. The Shockers advanced to an NCAA regional all three seasons with him in uniform, highlighted by the 2007 regional title and super regional berth.

He pitched in relief as a freshman and sophomore and did not allow an earned run in 31.2 innings while compiling 16 saves. He struck out 64, using a sinking fastball, slider, curve and change-up, and walked 16 in those two seasons.

Sublett got his start in baseball at Westurban Baseball and played for Trey Frederick, who would later coach Sublett at Northwest as an assistant.

Sublett, Frederick remembers, was one of the rare kids who instinctively understood the game. He once threw batting practice in the Sublett backyard on the day of a school dance. Baseball also mattered to the family. If Frederick had a question about the score or statistics during a game, he looked for Rene Sublett, Damon's mother, who kept score at every game.

"You could tell he had the 'It' factor," Frederick said. "Baseball was No. 1 to him. Baseball was 24-7 for him."

That devotion paid off at Wichita State, where he started at second base and hit second in the opening game of the 2005 season. He walked three times and singled in an 11-0 win over Northwestern State and rarely left the lineup over the rest of his career.

He remembers a difficult adjustment to college baseball early in his freshman fall and then playing well during the Shocker World Series. Veterans such as Nick McCoola, Joe Muich and Mike Pelfrey helped.

"They were good guys, even to the freshmen," Sublett said. "It was a lot of hard work and listening to your coaches. I kept plugging away."

Fans will remember him for being more than a hard worker. His line drives ignited many rallies at Eck Stadium. When he went to the bullpen, fans gathered to watch his distinctive, maximum effort, warm-up throws. He was, like the athletes he grew up watching, one of those memorable Shockers.

Pizza Hut Shocker Sports Hall of Fame weekend 

 A dinner is set for 6:00 p.m. on Feb. 13 at the Aetna Multipurpose Center at Charles Koch Arena, while the induction ceremony is scheduled for halftime of Wichita State's Feb. 14 (6 p.m.) men's basketball game against Tulsa.
 
Cost for the dinner is $50 per person, and paid reservations can be made online at goshockers.com or by calling the Shocker Ticket Office at 316/978-FANS or in person at the WSU Ticket Office located on the south side of Charles Koch Arena.
 
The addition of this year's class brings the total of former coaches and student-athletes in the Hall of Fame to 168, while there are 14 at-large selections.