James "Skip" Wilson (October 8, 1929 – July 26, 2022) was an American

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

head coach. As the winningest coach in Owls sports history, Wilson was inducted into three different sports Halls of Fame: the Temple Athletics Hall of Fame in 1981, the

American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame The American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) is the world's largest amateur baseball coaching organization. It was founded in 1945 as the American Association of College Baseball Coaches. Now, the ABCA is composed of over 13,000 baseball coac ...

in 1994, and the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame in 1994.

Early life

Born in the Philadelphia suburb of

Germantown Germantown or German Town may refer to: Places Australia * Germantown, Queensland, a locality in the Cassowary Coast Region United States * Germantown, California, the former name of Artois, a census-designated place in Glenn County * Ger ...

on October 8, 1929, Wilson was a standout three sport star at nearby St. John's High School, graduating in 1948. Wilson earned a basketball scholarship to

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

, but he would drop out, opting instead to play minor league baseball. After serving in the US Army, Wilson returned to school at

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then called Ba ...

, earning both a bachelor's degree in 1958 and a master's degree in health and physical education in 1961. In addition to his extensive collegiate coaching career (which also included a stint as the freshman basketball team at Temple), Wilson taught physical education and driver training at

Roxborough High School The Academies at Roxborough High School (commonly referred to as Roxborough High School) is a public high school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, operated by the School District of Philadelphia and servicing the Roxborough, Manayunk, Chestnut Hill ...

of Philadelphia for 34 years.

Coaching career

Wilson coached the

Temple Owls baseball The Temple Owls baseball team was a varsity intercollegiate athletic team of Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, until the end of the 2014 season. On December 6, 2013, Temple announced that it would cut seven sports, i ...

team for 46 seasons, taking over for future Temple athletic director Ernie Casale in 1960. He achieved 1,034 wins, reached the NCAA tournament 12 times, and coached more than 100 professional baseball players. Before joining the A-10, Wilson's Owls squads played in both the Middle Atlantic Conference (1960-1974) and East Coast Conference (1975-1982). Temple won four MAC conference titles, eight ECC East division titles and five ECC conference titles. Finishing 10-1 in MAC play, the 1972 Owls reached their first College World Series, defeating

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campu ...

twice (including 4-3 in the final) and

LIU / ( or ) is an East Asian surname. pinyin: in Mandarin Chinese, in Cantonese. It is the family name of the Han dynasty emperors. The character originally meant 'kill', but is now used only as a surname. It is listed 252nd in the classic text ...

to win the District 2 championship. They would lose 2-1 to

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

(led by Joe Simpson), then defeat

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

(led by

Jim Sundberg James Howard Sundberg (born May 18, 1951) is an American former professional baseball player, television sports analyst and executive. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher from 1974 to 1989. A three-time All-Star player, Sundberg estab ...

) and

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

in the loser's bracket before falling to eventual champion Southern Cal 4-3 in 10 innings to finish third. The Owls were led by future Major League pitching coach and manager Joe Kerrigan. In

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...

, Temple went unbeaten in ECC play and won the Northeast Regional tournament, finishing unbeaten with wins over UConn, Catholic, Cornell and St. John's to reach the 1977 College World Series (the last time the program would ever reach

Omaha Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest city ...

). Future Major League pitcher Pete Filson led the Owls. Other notable Owl baseball players under Wilson included

John Marzano John Robert Marzano (February 14, 1963 – April 19, 2008), commonly referred to as "Johnny Marz", was an Americans, American professional baseball catcher, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Boston Red Sox, Texas Rangers (baseball) ...

, Jeff Manto,

Ed Wade Ed Wade (born January 31, 1956) is an American former professional baseball executive, who served as general manager of the Houston Astros and the Philadelphia Phillies of Major League Baseball (MLB). Early career in baseball After graduating fro ...

Bobby Higginson Robert Leigh Higginson (born August 18, 1970) is an American former professional baseball outfielder who played his entire career for the Detroit Tigers of Major League Baseball (MLB). Amateur career Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Higginso ...

and

Steve Javie Steve Javie (; born January 17, 1955) is an American retired professional basketball referee who refereed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from the 1986–87 NBA season to the 2010–11 season. Javie officiated 1,514 regular season, 2 ...

. Wilson's 1,034 wins are the most of any coach in Temple University history. He earned his 1,000 career win on March 14, 2004 as Temple defeated Manhattan 10-9. He received the Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year award in 1989 and 2001, winning the

Atlantic 10 Conference The Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) is a collegiate athletic conference whose schools compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I. The A-10's member schools are located in states mostly on the United States Eastern ...

title two times and the Atlantic 10 East Division three times. Temple's former home baseball venue,

Skip Wilson Field Skip Wilson Field is a baseball stadium in Ambler, Pennsylvania. It is the home field of the Arcadia University baseball team which moved to the ballfield in 2018. Temple University It was the home field of the Temple Owls baseball team until ...

, was named for Wilson. However, the Owls baseball program was discontinued in 2014, much to Wilson's expressed dismay. Skip Wilson died from stroke complications on July 26, 2022.

Head coaching record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Skip 1929 births 2022 deaths Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball players Sportspeople from Philadelphia Temple Owls baseball coaches Temple University alumni Basketball players from Philadelphia