The Salem-Roanoke Baseball Hall of Fame recently announced its Class of 2017, and it included a name very familiar to Longwood University baseball fans — Buddy Bolding.

The Hall of Fame, founded in 1991, exists to honor baseball players and contributors from the counties of Alleghany, Roanoke, Bedford, Botetourt, Craig, Floyd, Franklin and Montgomery and the independent cities located within the boundaries of those counties, as stated in a press release from the Hall of Fame.

Bolding, the longtime Lancers coach,  grew up in the Roanoke Valley.

Part of an induction class of four, he was identified in the release as a player and coach at Staunton River High School before moving on to coach the Longwood baseball team for 35 seasons. During that time, he guided the Lancers to 953 victories, giving him a .640 winning percentage.

The release also pointed out that the Lancers play at Buddy Bolding Stadium, named in his honor.

“It’s pretty exciting, it really is,” Bolding said of being selected to the Salem-Roanoke Baseball Hall of Fame.

He said that his time coaching in the Roanoke area was not nearly as important as his time playing. He recalled playing as a teenager in the Clyde Cock League, which he described as equal to today’s American Legion, but a little better.

“It was really primetime baseball,” he said. “It was quality baseball. You had to try out for those teams to make them.”

He remembered a very influential coach from those days named Larry Wainwright, who was a flyer in World War II.

“He taught me a tremendous amount of baseball,” Bolding said. “We played powerful teams. The Roanoke Valley was very strong in baseball — always has been — but was particularly strong after World War II when you had so much influx of ex-Army guys and Navy guys and flyers who inhabit the Ronaoke Valley and built their families there. And baseball was really, really, really big in the Roanoke Valley. It was about the only sport we had then.”

He said the people in the area had the Salem Rebels then, and now the Boston Red Sox have their Class A Advanced minor league affiliate located there — the Salem Red Sox.

Bolding, who mentored many talented players, hopes to see the last player he recruited as a college coach — Kyri Washington — playing for Salem this spring, taking his next step toward the Major Leagues in his old coach’s back yard.

Bolding’s induction into the Salem-Roanoke Baseball Hall of Fame is set to take place at the 26th annual hot stove banquet, scheduled for Jan. 26 at the Salem Civic Center.

“I love Roanoke Valley,” Bolding said. “It’s my home … and I’m proud to be part of that great tradition.”