THIBODAUX, La. – Nicholls State University is deeply saddened at the news of the untimely passing of Colonel baseball alumnus and Major League outfielder Darryl Hamilton, on Sunday, June 21.
 
"First and foremost, I'm deeply saddened for the Hamilton family and of course his children who we've gotten to know well," Nicholls Head Coach Seth Thibodeaux said. "My prayers go out to them. It's an awful situation that happened to a great person. Darryl was literally the first person I reached out to when I got the job at Nicholls and being the guy he was he was proud to lend his hand to help. He was a great ambassador of this program and any time he could be a part of anything we did, he was there. I am proud to have known him and proud to have known what type of person he was. We should certainly celebrate his legacy of being an amazing person, a good friend and an awesome father."
 
A Baton Rouge native, Hamilton spent four years in Thibodaux. He was a member of the 1985 All-Gulf Star Conference First Team, as well as the 1986 Baseball America Preseason All-America team. Hamilton scored a school record 67 runs in 1985 and still owns the Nicholls career stolen base record with 140. Through the 1985 season, he led the Colonels in six offensive categories, including runs, hits (77), stolen bases (52), triples (5), walks (38) and batting average (.379).
 
The Milwaukee Brewers selected Hamilton in the 11th round of the 1986 MLB First Year Player Draft. He broke into the majors with the Brewers in 1988, and was a career .291 hitter through 13 Major League seasons with the Brewers, Texas Rangers, San Francisco Giants and New York Mets.
 
Hamilton worked with the MLB Department of On-Field Operations and had stints as a radio broadcaster before joining the MLB Network as an on-air analyst.
 
Hamilton is an inductee of the Nicholls Athletic Hall of Fame, the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and a member of the Brewers Wall of Honor.