One of the best players to ever step onto the diamond for the Radford baseball program, Duane Filchner, has been elected for enshrinement in the Big South Conference Hall of Fame as a member of the Class of 2022.
Filchner (1992-95) was the 1994 Big South Player of the Year and was named First-Team All-Conference all four years as an outfielder, the first player in Big South history to earn All-Conference four times (now one of three players).
Voted to the Big South Baseball 1990-99 All-Decade Team, Filchner is eighth all-time in league history with a .389 career batting average. He graduated as the Big South’s all-time leader with 198 runs scored (now seventh), 269 hits (now 18th), 181 runs batted in (now 12th) and 442 total bases (now eighth). He started 192 of 198 career games played for the Highlanders and finished with 57 doubles, 34 home runs, a .639 slugging percentage ,and 44 stolen bases.
A 23rd-round draft pick by the Oakland Athletics in the 1995 MLB Draft, Filchner also ranks 12th in Big South history in doubles and 19th in home runs and is the Highlanders’ all-time leader in runs scored and batting average while ranking fourth in home runs.
He owns the Radford single-season record for runs scored with a league-leading 60 in 1995 and still ranks in the school’s top-10 single-season in all offensive categories. Filchner was the first player in Big South history to lead the conference in batting average two consecutive seasons (.399 in 1994, .389 in 1995), was the first player in Big South history to lead the conference in RBI’s in back-to-back seasons (57 in 1993, 53 in 1994), and is the only player in Big South history to lead the conference in hitting and RBI’s twice.
He helped Radford make its first Big South Championship game appearance in 1993 and earn the first 30-win season in program history in 1995.
Filchner was inducted into Radford’s Athletics Hall of Fame in 2012 and will become the 12th Highlander to be enshrined in the Big South Conference Hall of Fame.
Radford Highlanders in the Big South Hall of Fame:
Dante Washington (Men’s Soccer, 1988-92) – Class of 2003
Stephanie Howard (Women’s Basketball, 1986-89) – Class of 2003
Doug Day (Men’s Basketball, 1989-93) – Class of 2005
Shannon Wilkey (Women’s Basketball, 1990-94) – Class of 2005
Chuck Taylor (Director of Athletics, 1974-96) – Class of 2006
Charlene Curtis (Women’s Basketball Coach, 1984-90) – Class of 2006
Dr. Donald Newton Dedmon (Radford/BSC President) – Class of 2007
Dr. Ron Bradley (Men’s Basketball Coach, 1991-2002) – Class of 2010
Ian Spooner (Men’s Soccer, 1991-95) – Class of 2013
Sue Williams (Women’s Soccer, 1990-93) – Class of 2015
Anne Fontaine (Volleyball and Women’s Basketball, 1990-95) – Class of 2017
Created in 2003 as part of the league’s 20th anniversary celebration, the Big South Hall of Fame now totals 77 former Big South Conference student-athletes, coaches, administrators, and contributors with the addition of this year’s class.
Joining Filchner in the Class of 2022 are former Winthrop tennis coach Cid Carvalho, former Winthrop volleyball player Mary Hock, and former Campbell men’s soccer player John Payne.
