DREWSVILLE, N.H. – Fall Mountain Regional High School (FMRHS) graduate and Plymouth State University (PSU) Hall of Fame baseball legend Dean Prentiss recently passed away after a lengthy and courageous battle with cancer, while surrounded by his close family.
A Drewsville, N.H., native, Prentiss was very well known throughout the community for not only his athletic abilities – he could also slam a golf ball a country mile and handle a broom-hockey stick with the best of them – but also his kindness and charitability through several local establishments and businesses, including Hooper Golf Course, the Watkins Inn & Tavern, and the nationwide Golf Out Cancer sports apparel organization. As of February, Prentiss’ custom logo design – yes, apparel featuring a logo of Dean golfing – has raised more than $50,000 for cancer research. Apparel featuring the custom logo can be found at www.golfoutcancer.deco-apparel.com.
A 1983 FMRHS graduate, Prentiss was a standout baseball player for the Wildcats before graduating and attending Plymouth State College in Plymouth, N.H. (now a university since 2003), from 1984 through 1987, where he would shatter several single-season and career baseball batting records at the university. Several of the records Prentiss set still stand more than 40 years later.
Frankly, Prentiss’ hitting statistics make him arguably the greatest hitter to ever put on a Panther uniform. Try these numbers on for size:
Prentiss had an amazing career batting average of .365 and, in 1985, as a sophomore, he established a Plymouth State single-season and career home runs records, and led the nation in batting average with a school-record .512, cracking an incredible 43 hits in 84 at bats. Forty-one years later, that mark still stands. Prentiss also hit 20 doubles and a then school-record 17 home runs over a three-year stretch, and also set the Panther single-season home run record with nine round-trippers in 1987. Prentiss remains tied for second on the school’s all-time home run list.
During his highly successful career at PSU, Prentiss earned All-New England and All-Northeast honors in 1985, becoming just the second player in school history to do so. He helped lead Plymouth State to a record of 57-34 from 1985-87, with the team earning three straight ECAC postseason berths.
His career batting average of .365 remains one of the top averages in school history. He still holds that single-season batting average high mark, and he is still second on the team’s all-time home run list, trailing only his teammate and childhood friend, and 1984 FMRHS graduate, Tim Hennessey. It is also no surprise, then, that Dean was elected to the Plymouth State Hall of Fame in 2010.
However, the most remarkable aspect of this story is how many people who knew Dean are now probably reading this having no idea of his many past athletic achievements, because he was simply a humble man. Therefore, it is the duty of this local sportswriter and friendly acquaintance of Prentiss to write the praises of a man who made an undeniable mark in his community and deserves to be remembered for his many athletic accomplishments, strong family values, and communal inspiration. Rest in peace, Dean, and “Go Sox!”