American Baseball Coaches Association Board member Jim Dimick passed away earlier this morning. The 53-year ABCA Lifetime Member and 1995 ABCA Hall of Fame inductee served as the head baseball coach at St. Olaf College from 1967 to 1995. He was also an assistant coach for St. Olaf's football and basketball programs.
In his 27 seasons as head coach at St. Olaf, Dimick compiled a record of 589-259 (.694). Dimick's teams won 14 conference championships – 7 in the Midwest Conference and 7 in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) – and won a berth to the NCAA Regional baseball tournament 13 times.
Dimick was honored as the 1978 Minnesota High School Baseball Coaches Association's Dick Siebert Award recipient for his contributions to the state of Minnesota's High School baseball. In 1984, he was named the MIAC Coach of the Year as well as the NCAA Midwest Regional Coach of the Year after his team finished 26-12 overall and 16-4 in MIAC play to finish atop the conference standings. Today, the MIAC Coach of the Year and Minnesota High School Baseball Retired Coach of the Year Awards are named after him.
Dimick, who served as ABCA President in 1992, was also a member of the ABCA Board of Directors, ABCA Hall of Fame Committee and Ethics in Coaching Committee. In addition to the ABCA Hall of Fame, Dimick is also a member of multiple Halls of Fame including the inaugural class of the Minnesota Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame, the St. Cloud State Hall of Fame, the Cumberland (Wis.) High School Hall of Fame and the Minnesota Fellowship of Christian Athletes Hall of Fame.