Former baseball team coach Woo-Hong Oh, who led Korea to victory in the 1982 World Baseball Championship, passed away at 4:49 pm on the 19th. Age 95.
Former coach Eo, who started playing baseball at Dongrae Middle School (now Dongrae High School) as a pitcher, began to become known as a player by receiving the Outstanding Player Award at the 3rd National District Representative Middle School Baseball Competition (now Golden Lion) in 1949.
After attending Sungkyunkwan University, former coach Eo continued his career as a player for professional baseball teams such as Chosun Jeonup and Namseon Electric. After retiring as a player, he trained juniors as an amateur and professional baseball coach.
He mainly led the Busan area baseball team and was called the ‘Godfather of Busan Baseball.’
While working as a coach at Busan Commercial High School, Kyungnam High School, and Dong-A University, he produced outstanding students such as Kim Eung-yong, Kang Byeong-cheol, Gu Gu-yeon, and Kim Yong-hee.
He was appointed as the head coach of the baseball team in 1981, and led Kim Jae-bak, Choi Dong-won, Han Dae-hwa, and Sun Dong-yeol to the top at the 27th World Baseball Championship held in Seoul in September of the following year.
The final game against Japan on the last day of the tournament for the championship is considered one of the most famous matches in Korean baseball history.
Korea tied the score in the bottom of the 8th inning with Kim Jeong-su's timely double and Kim Jae-bak's so-called 'frog bunt', then won 5-2 with Han Dae-hwa's come-from-behind 3-run home run.
Starting pitcher Seon Dong-yeol pitched 9 innings and pitched a complete game, and Korea won 8 wins and 1 loss, becoming the first Asian country to win the World Championship.
For his contribution, former coach Eo received the Kirin Medal of the Order of Sports Merit and the World Baseball Federation's Coach of the Year Award.
After the launch of professional baseball, he served as the manager of MBC Blue Dragon from 1984 to 1985 and the Lotte Giants from 1988 to 1989, winning a total of 177 games in the KBO League.
After retiring as a coach, he contributed to the development of Korean baseball by holding various important positions in the baseball world, including the first president of Ilgu (1991), special assistant to the KBO president (1991-1996), KBO senior advisor (1991-2026), and KBO rules committee chairman (1992-1996).
In 2014, he served as the first chairman of the Choi Dong-won Award selection committee in honor of the late Choi Dong-won.
In Game 5 of the Korean Series held in the same year, he went to the mound as the first pitcher and exchanged balls with former manager Kim Jae-bak, who was in charge of the throw, reliving the emotion of winning the World Championship 32 years ago.
The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) decided to hold a funeral at the KBO stadium to honor the deceased's contributions.
This is the third KBO president, following former KBO acting president Lee Yong-il in September of last year and former coach Baek In-cheon, who passed away on the 15th of this month.
Former director Eo's funeral was set up in Room 2 of the funeral hall at Bundang Jesaeng Hospital in Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do. The funeral will be held at 5:30 a.m. on the 21st and the burial site will be Yongin Peaceful Forest.
