Former Cerritos College baseball player Francis Joseph "Butch" Hughes will be one of five former head coaches and six former athletes to be inducted into the Merced College Athletic Hall of Fame on Saturday, May 4, 2013. Hughes coached the Blue Devils from 1972-81 and won seven Division II State Championships (1973-74 and 1977-80). Hughes finished his 10-year career at Merced with a 302-72 (.807) record to go along with his seven state titles, which included a then-record five in a row and seven conference championships. He coached 47 1st Team all-conference selection and seven All-Americans, while 20 players signed pro contracts.

During the summers after his season was over at Merced College, Hughes was a minor league pitching coach for the Milwaukee Brewers (1979-80), and continued working in the minor league system for the Philadelphia Phillies (1982), San Francisco Giants (1983), Oakland A's (1985-87), Chicago Cubs (1994) and Montreal Expos (1995). He continued to serve as a pitching coach for the Tri-City Dust Devils in 2004 and the Modesto Nuts. Hughes served as the manager of the GCL Cubs in 19993, Reno Chuckers from 1996-98, the Yakima Bears in 2000 and Great Falls Dodgers in 2001, while he also managed in Italy in 1984 and 1991.

While playing for the Falcons from 1960-61, Hughes was a member of the first Cerritos baseball team to reach the State Championships, but the team was defeated by Fresno City College in 1961. That season, Hughes was a 2nd Team All-American pitcher and earned 2nd Team All-Western State Conference honors. The team won the conference title and finished the season with a 33-10 record, with Hughes being voted the team's Co-Most Valuable Player. It was just the fourth season the team was in existence. In 1960, Hughes helped the team place second in the WSC and were 26-10 on the year, while he was an all-conference honorable mention selection and was named the team's Most Improved Player.

Photo courtesy of Merced College