Jim’s roots in baseball as a player began in little league and his college experience culminated in 1965 with him being the winning pitcher for ASU in the College World Series championship game. He accepted the head baseball coaching job at McClintock High School in 1968 and remained their head coach for 32 years before stepping down in 1999. His teams participated in the state tournament six times, won the state championship in 1985, were runners-up in 1988 and semi-finalists in 1992. McClintock also won the annual East Valley Tournament six times. He has been honored as State Coach of the Year once and Region Coach of the year twice. Jim also served as an assistant football coach at McClintock for 18 years. He has a long and consistent record of serving the baseball community as well as the community at large, having served as a minor league manager and coach with the Minnesota Twins and Milwaukee Brewers, being honored as a member of the ASU Athletic Hall of Fame, the Arizona Baseball Coaches’ Hall of Fame, the Tempe City Hall of Fame and being named Teacher of the Year at McClintock High.