Brad Porter
Porter, Brad: Valdosta High School
Porter was inducted into the Georgia Dugout Club Hall of Fame in 2024.
Brad Porter wanted to be sure he heard the voice correctly.
When Georgia Dugout Club Executive Director David McDonald called to tell him that he would be inducted into the GDC Hall of Fame, Porter thought the invitation might have been for someone else.
“I wanted to make sure they had the right guy,” Porter said.
McDonald and the Georgia Dugout Club Hall of Fame Committee had the right guy. It just didn’t sink in to Porter right away.
“To say I was speechless, I really was,” said Porter, who will be inducted as part of the Class of 2024.
Just a few years after receiving the organization’s Ethics-in-Coaching Award in 2018, Porter added more hardware to his coaching memorabilia.
The longtime baseball coach spent time as head coach at Madison County (Fla.), Atkinson County, Coffee, Tiftarea and Valdosta High Schools. In 28 seasons, he finished with a record of 504-249. He guided six teams to region titles and made 21 trips to the state playoffs.
Perhaps his greatest success came during his five years at Tiftarea where he took three of his five teams to the state semifinals in the highest division of the Georgia Independent Schools Association. His 2014 squad finished as the state runner-up.
A devout Christian, Porter remains heavily involved in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. He said those relationships he built meant more than any baseball victory.
“Before I called my wife, after I received that phone call, I just sat there for a while praising God,” he said. “Baseball has certainly been a blessing to me. But seeing kids choose Christ, that is a big deal.”
Growing up in Tallahassee, Fla., he played at Rickards High School under coach Bill Cunningham, then collegiately at North Florida Community College where he played under GDC Hall of Fame coach Greg Frady. He transferred to West Florida where he played under the legendary Jim Spooner before an elbow injury cut short his time there.
His first head coaching job was at Madison County High School before he returned to North Florida College as an assistant.
Porter was no stranger to resurrecting baseball programs. He took over struggling programs at Atkinson and Coffee and made them competitive. At Atkinson, he guided the Rebels to a semifinal appearance in his final season.
In 2017, he took over at Valdosta after GDC Hall of Fame coach Bart Shuman retired. He led Valdosta to two quarterfinal appearances. His Wildcats competed in the same region with state power Houston County. Houston coach Matt Hopkins said Porter’s teams were always going to come at you hard.
“His teams were always well-coached, and he tried to do things by the book the best he could,” Hopkins said. “But he has been around the game a long time. You don’t get 504 wins and not do something right.”
One of Porter’s greatest memories during his tenure was getting to coach his son Cole at Valdosta High School. The younger Porter graduated in 2022 before heading to Berry College. That was the last season for the head coach as well.
He has also been an ambassador for the Georgia Dugout Club, serving on its Executive Committee and coaching all-stars many times in the GDC All-State Games.
He said he’ll always be grateful for the opportunity to play under Cunningham, Spooner and Frady and is thankful for all of his assistant coaches, players, administrators and supporters.
“How I got that lucky to play for all of those guys, I’ll never know,” he said. ”Baseball has done a lot for me. I’m glad a lot of people had faith in me.”