Roger Cador and Rickie Weeks were part of a dominant era of Southern baseball that resulted in multiple SWAC championships and individual honors.
Cador led the Jaguars to 14 conference titles and a pair of Black National Championships over 32 seasons Weeks, during his time at Southern, became the first and only HBCU baseball player to date to win the Golden Spikes Award.
The two will be inducted into the College Baseball Hall of Fame together during a ceremony on Feb. 2-3 in Omaha, Nebraska.
“It’s a special moment for me, and I know it is for Rickie,” Cador told The Advocate. “But what makes it really special is he and I going in simultaneously. I don’t know many coaches who can say that.”
While at Southern, Cador compiled a 913-597-1 record building one of the most successful HBCU programs in the nation. The Jaguars made 11 NCAA tournament appearances, including the becoming first Black college team to win in an NCAA Regional. The 13-time SWAC Coach of the Year produced 10 All-Americans and 62 drafted players.
Weeks, who did not receive many Division I offers out of high school, put together two of the most outstanding seasons by any player in NCAA history. The second baseman led the nation in hitting in both 2002 (.495) and 2003 (.479) for Roger Cador’s Southern squad.
In his final season in 2003, Weeks hit 16 home runs and drove in 66 RBI while averaging 1.61 runs per game. The year before, he scored 63 runs, hit a Southern record 20 home runs, and drove in 96. He notched Southwestern Athletic Conference Player of the Year and consensus All-America honors in each of his last two campaigns, including being named college player of the year — the first by an HBCU player in the history of the honor.
Weeks went on to be drafted No. 2 overall in 2003 by the Milwaukee Brewers and play 11 seasons in Major League Baseball.
