American Baseball Coaches Association former Executive Director and Hall of Fame inductee Dick Bergquist passed away on Sunday, February 25, 2019. Bergquist served as the head coach at University of Massachusetts Amherst from 1967 until 1987. In 1991, Bergquist was named the ABCA Executive Director, a position he held through June 1994.
Bergquist, a 58-year continuous ABCA member, compiled nearly 400 wins at UMass including seven Yankee Conference championships, two New England championships, one Atlantic-10 Conference Championship and an appearance at the 1969 NCAA Div. I College World Series.
Upon retiring as a coach, Bergquist was named the successor to ABCA Executive Director Jerry Miles during the ABCA Board Meetings in June 1991. Bergquist's first order of business was to move the ABCA national office from Omaha to Amherst, Massachusetts. During his tenure, Bergquist represented the ABCA at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, oversaw the growth of the ABCA Trade Show to a then-record 176 companies and worked on several professional-amateur legislative initiatives.
The 1989 ABCA Hall of Fame inductee was a heralded clinician and ambassador of the United States Baseball Federation. Prior to his time as ABCA Executive Director, he also served on the ABCA's Executive Committee and was president of the New England College Baseball Coaches Association.
In addition to the ABCA Hall of Fame, Bergquist is also a 1999 inductee to the University of Massachusetts Hall of Fame and 2017 inductee to the Western Massachusetts Hall of Fame. Additionally, his number, 26, has been retired by the University of Massachusetts and the bleachers at Earl Lorden Field have been dedicated in his honor.