Brad Daggett ’90 with his family after his induction into the Sports Hall of Fame.
Al Slader ’60
Brad Barket ’95
Brad Daggett ’90
Brad Daggett ’90
Brad Barket ’95
Baseball
Track and Field
Coming to Peddie from Haverford in the fall of 1988 seeking a fresh start as a student and athlete, Brad Daggett ’90 made an immediate mark, becoming a fiery sixth man on the basketball team and an immediate All-Prep baseball outfielder roaming Thompson Field.
Barket joined the Peddie community as a 10th grader in 1992. A resident of Dallas, Penn., he was already a talented runner for his local high school, but he hadn’t yet blossomed. Over the next three years, Barket established himself as one of the premier middle distance runners in the country. Barket’s national accolades are numerous: as a sophomore running in the Eastern States Championships at Princeton’s Jadwin Gym, Barket came from behind to win the 1000 yard race. During his junior year, Barket owned the nation’s best high school 800m time (1:55.69) and later earned All-American status by placing at the National Championships held at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, NY. He placed third at the Penn Relays invitational 1500m, sixth place in the invitational high school mile at the Millrose Games in Madison Square Garden, ran the 1600m at the Golden West meet in California and won the high school race of the 5th Avenue Mile. Barket was the only runner in Peddie’s track history to have been fast enough to compete in any of these prestigious events, and he qualified for all of them.
Blessed with a laser arm, Daggett threw out several runners his first time through the prep school schedule. No one ran on Daggett after that, and rarely did anyone attempt to go to third on a single to him. No one ever tagged up to advance on a fly ball. His junior year, Brad batted .419, with a slugging percentage of .558, outstanding numbers in a 10-4 season, but he performed best when the challenge was clear: on a midseason double-header sweep of a strong Lawrenceville team, Brad went 6-for-8 with a pair of doubles and a home run. Daggett’s senior year performance was even stronger, as his reputation preceded him. During the first half of the season, when no pitcher gave him anything over the plate, he remained patient, learning how to drive the outside pitch to the opposite field, and taking pride in doing so. Later, when Frank Moran ’90 and Peter McClellan ’90 started to heat up, Brad saw better pitches, and extra base hits came in bunches. He finished the year batting .414, with five doubles, three triples, one home run and nine walks. The statistic that reveals his focus, patience, talent and knowledge of the game is his senior season strikeout total: one. After Peddie, Brad continued his baseball career for four years at the University of Alabama, batting second on a good team in the nation’s best baseball conference. Daggett is the only player who forced a change in the ground rules at Thompson Field; his screaming line drives to right field made it necessary to declare that any ball that rolled out onto Etra Road was a ground rule home run, a real possibility any time Daggett came to bat.
In addition to his individual achievements, Barket was a “team first” runner. He put his teammates ahead of personal glory in order to share the spotlight. Barket was a member of Peddie’s winning 4 x 400m relay team at the Penn Relays. By running the 1600m, 800m and 3200m, Barket helped the Peddie Track Team win its only indoor Mercer County title. Barket was a member of Peddie’s Sprint Medley relay team (with teammates Chris Totten ’93, Lars Kausch ’94 and Jermaine Bishop ’94), which was ranked 10th in the country according to American Athletics magazine. Barket owns four individual school records (indoor 800m, indoor 1600m, outdoor 800m, and outdoor 1600m), one retired record (one mile), and is part of two relay records (indoor sprint medley relay and outdoor distance medley relay). His running success continued at Seton Hall, where he was named to the All-Big East and All-IC4A Indoor Track teams.
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