WVU Sports Hall of Fame

Inducted: 1999

Written by Shelly Poe

West Virginia’s original first-team All-American in baseball, Bill Marovic is the university’s top base stealer of all-time.

A native of Leckrone, Pa., Marovic was selected as a first team All-American by the American Baseball Coaches Association in 1964. He holds the WVU school record with 74 career stolen bases, totaling 27, 27 and 20 respectively during his three years on the squad.

In 1963, Marovic’s freshman year, the Mountaineers won their third straight Southern Conference championship and finished with a 30-3 overall record, the best in college baseball that year.

He was named second team all-conference for leading the team and the nation with 27 stolen bases. The 1963 Mountaineers earned their third straight trip to the NCAA tournament in Gastonia, N.C. where they beat Auburn 2-1, but lost twice to Wake Forest (4-3, 12-8). In addition, Marovic set a then-school record and led the league with 40 runs scored.

As a sophomore, Marovic not only led the team for the second straight year with 27 stolen bases, but he also was the offensive star for the Mountaineers, leading the team in batting average (.404), total bases (68), triples (4), doubles (10), hits (44), runs scored (34), at-bats (109) and runs batted in (17).

His .404 batting average was a career best and ranked eighth on WVU’s all-time list, while his team-high 44 hits set a school record which stood until 1982. He was honored as a first-team all-District III selection and first-team All-American for leading the Mountaineers to a 24-5 overall record.

The 1964 squad won 18 straight games to start the season and earned a berth in the NCAA tournament, at which they lost to Mississippi, 11-0 and East Carolina, 6-5. In 1965, Marovic, a junior, was featured on the cover of the 1965 Collegiate Baseball Guide.

He was a second team all-conference pick for leading the squad and the league in stolen bases for the third straight year with 20. His 0.71 per game stolen base average ranked him eighth in the nation. The 1965 squad finished second in the Southern Conference with a 10-4 league mark.

Marovic lives in Masontown, Pa., where he has been a high school teacher for 33 years.