Our
nation’s pandemic has not stopped FCA from
celebrating one exceptional baseball coach. FCA recently
honored Coastal Carolina University Head Baseball Coach Gary Gilmore with the
2021 Jerry Kindall Character in Coaching Award.
“Fellowship of Christian Athletes has honored an outstanding
coach who has impacted countless players over his successful career” said FCA
President and CEO Shane Williamson. “We congratulate Gary Gilmore for not only
his accomplishments on the field, but also for the way he has touched the lives
of countless young athletes—all for the glory of God.”
Gary
Gilmore is in his 26th season as Head Baseball Coach at Coastal
Carolina University, his alma mater. He enters the 2021 season ranked 25th
all-time in NCAA Division I with 1,227 career wins. Gilmore was voted the 2016
National Coach of the Year by the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA)
and numerous other publications after the Chanticleers won the NCAA Division I
National Championship in Omaha. His teams have made 16 Regional Appearances and
made it to 3 Super Regionals. Coach Gilmore is a 10-time Conference Coach of the
Year; and his teams have won 12 regular season and 13 conference tournament
titles in his 25 years at Coastal Carolina. Prior to assuming this position,
Gilmore had a successful six-year run as Head Coach at NCAA Division II
University of South Carolina-Aiken.
Gilmore
and his wife, Cathy, have a son (Chance), a daughter (Samantha) and three
grandsons.
Named
after the late Jerry Kindall, former Major League player and Head Baseball
Coach at the University of Arizona, the Jerry Kindall Character in Coaching
Award has been presented annually since 2006 by FCA to the
college or high school baseball coach who best exemplifies the FCA Values of Integrity, Serving, Teamwork and Excellence on and off the baseball
field.
The
award’s namesake, Jerry Kindall, passed away on Christmas Eve 2017. The
legendary coach and baseball standout was well-known and respected among his
peers and those he coached over the years. He was the first person in NCAA
history to win NCAA Division I College World Series titles as both a player and
a head coach, winning a title as the shortstop for the 1956 National Champion
University of Minnesota Golden Gophers; and later coaching the University of
Arizona Wildcats to three national championships (!976, 1980 and 1986) over 24
seasons. Kindall was a 3-time ABCA National Coach of the Year; the
recipient of ABCA’s prestigious Lefty Gomez Award in 1999; and inducted into
the College Baseball Hall of Fame in 2007.
Past Kindall Award recipients include
Brent Lavoie (Long Beach Poly -2020), Jason Marshall (UTSA -
2019), Lynn Carlson (Greenville - 2018), Rich Maloney (Ball State - 2017), Dan McDonnell
(Louisville - 2016) and Brian Shoop (UAB - 2015).
-FCA-