In celebration of Arizona's centennial, the Star will feature our picks for the 100 best athletes, moments and teams.
Throughout the summer, we will showcase our list - with the first 90 in no particular order. In August, Greg Hansen will choose his top 10, with a column on each.
Jim Brock
Achievement
As the head baseball coach at Mesa Community College, Jim Brock won two national titles.
At Arizona State, he won two more.
When Brock passed away due to liver and colon cancer days after his team was eliminated from the 1994 College World Series, he was remembered as the only coach to ever win national championships in American Legion, junior college and major college baseball.
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He was coaching Mesa High School when asked to start Mesa College's program in 1964.
After winning back-to-back National Junior College Athletic Association championships in 1970 and 1971, Brock was drafted to take over the ASU program.
Coach Bobby Winkles had left the Sun Devils for the major leagues' Angels, and Brock, an Arizona State graduate, was named his interim replacement.
Brock went 64-6 that year, cementing a job running an ASU program that would make 13 CWS appearances and suffer only one losing season. He won championships in 1977 and 1981.
The Phoenix native was diagnosed with cancer in 1993, but coached throughout the season anyway.
He was forced to return to the hospital during the playoffs, and died shortly afterward.
Hometown; age
Phoenix; died in 1994 at 57
By the numbers
1,100-440
Brock's record in 23 years at ASU, at the time the 16th-best winning percentage among coaches.
Patrick Finley
