Harvey Cochran: North Cobb High School
Cochran served as Executive Director of the Georgia Dugout Club.
Harvey Cochran is just one of seven coaches in Georgia High School baseball history to win 650 or more games. But the veteran coach may be more known for his work off the field, helping transform the Georgia Dugout Club into one of the nation's top baseball organizations.
Not only is Cochran a member of the Georgia Dugout Club Hall of Fame, he was inducted into the Georgia Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2015. He passed away on August 19, 2020.
Cochran coached baseball for 42 seasons at Brown, North Cobb, North Atlanta and Mount Paran Christian before retiring after the 2012 season. His career record is 682-348. The bulk of his success came during his 35 seasons at North Cobb where he guided the Warriors to seven region championships.
The school named its baseball field "Harvey Cochran Field" in 2013. His No. 40 jersey was also retired.
In his career, Cochran won a total of nine region titles, 12 region runner-up titles and captured four Georgia Dugout Club tournament titles. He won 571 baseball games at North Cobb.
“I love coaching high school baseball," Cochran told the Marietta Daily Journal. "It’s baseball at its purest form.”
In addition, Cochran coached softball at North Cobb and his teams won two region crowns and two Cobb County championships.
He also served for four years as the Georgia Athletic Coaches Association state baseball chairman, four years on the National High School Baseball Coaches All-American selection committee, 10 years as President and Treasurer of the North Cobb High School Foundation and more than 35 years as the executive secretary of the Georgia Dugout Club, a position he has held since 1978.
"He was vital and plugged in to baseball in this state as anybody," former Lassiter coach Mickey McMurty told the Marietta Daily Journal. "He was a wonderful person, and you can’t deny what he did for high school baseball.”
Cochran coached Team Georgia to the USA trials and coached the USA squad to a silver medal. He took squads to Australia, England, France, and Germany for games and was on the committee to host the World Baseball Games in Atlanta.
“If anybody (deserves to be in the hall of fame), he does,” former Wheeler coach David McDonald told the Marietta Daily Journal. “(With the Georgia Dugout Club), he has brought baseball recognition in this state. The top 100 program, over 440 high schools — it’s a major task to do what he did every year.”
Some information in this article was used from the Marietta Daily Journal.