Dr. Jim Brock

Dr. Jim Brock

When asked what made her late husband a great coach, Patsy Brock responded: "He couldn’t live with losing."

Jim Brock didn't lose very often. In 29 years as a college baseball coach, his teams at MCC and Arizona State won 1,263 games, tied 2 and lost only 459 times, which meant they won nearly 75% of the time. It's not surprising that those 29 years produced four national championships and four runner-up appearances. His record at Mesa was 163 80-2, good for three Conference championships and NJCAA titles in 1970 and 1971.

As was the case with so many of our coaches and athletes who came to MCC from local high schools, Jim had been coaching at Mesa High when Dr. Riggs hired him in 1964 to start a baseball program at the fledgling community college, then known as Mesa Extension.

In what was to become somewhat of a ritual, an umpire kicked him out of his first game at the College.

Jim could be a real taskmaster on the ball field, and a holy terror when his team lost. His teams played hard, and Jim had a reputation of reputation of frequently going against the laws of baseball. As one of his assistant coaches observed, "It's amazing how he would make a certain call, and it would work. It wasn’t luck. Jim had an extremely keen feel for the game." Jim’s take was "Winning baseball games is in my blood."

Besides earning three college degrees, Jim was especially proud of the fact that he was President of the MCC Faculty Senate.

Jim received innumerable honors during his career. He was Junior College Coach of the Year and Arizona State has named its baseball facility in his honor. A year after he succumbed to cancer, he was the recipient of the Gene Autry Courage Award.