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Longtime Texas A&M baseball coach Tom
Chandler passed away late Thursday night, Oct. 18, at his
home in Bryan at the age of 76. Chandler was battling progressive
supranuclear palsy, a rare form of Parkinson's Disease.
"The Texas A&M family has lost one of its finest gentlemen and one of its greatest coaches," Athletics Director Wally Groff said. "Our thoughts and prayers are with Willowdean (Chandler's wife) and her family." Funeral services were held at the A&M United Methodist Oct. 23. The family has requested in lieu of flowers that donations be made to the Tom Chandler Baseball Memorial, c/o the 12th Man Foundation, P.O. Box 2800, College Station, Texas, 77841 (979-846-8892). As a coach, Chandler was honored in a number of ways. The American Association of Baseball Coaches (AABC) awarded him the prestigious Lefty Gomez Award in January of 1982. The honor is considered the tops of that profession. Among other Lefty Gomez Award winners is none other than Peter Uberroth, former Commissioner of Major League Baseball and the former organizer of the 1984 Olympic Games held in Los Angeles, California. The Lefty Gomez Award is presented to an individual for outstanding achievements and accomplishments in the game of baseball. Coach Chandler was inducted into the Texas A&M Hall of Fame as well as the AABC National Hall of Fame. He served as the organization’s president and also served a number of years on the baseball rules committee. Chandler was honored by Texas A&M University by having a street near Olsen Field named for him. The street on the south side of Reed Arena, which runs from the new Aggie tennis center east toward Olsen Field, has been named Tom Chandler Drive. The Texas A&M University Board of Regents approved the street name. The record books will read 660 wins, 329 losses and 10 ties for the 26-year collegiate coaching career of Tom Chandler, one short of 1,000 games. But the books should be adjusted by one more win because that victory for Coach Chandler has come in the game of life. Not only was Tom Chandler an outstanding baseball coach, but he was an outstanding person. Chandler came to Texas A&M in 1958 as an assistant coach to Beau Bell. He took over the program in 1959 and promptly led the Aggies to the Southwest Conference Championship. The Aggies would hoist the Southwest Conference Championship banner a total of five times in his career and 25 of the 26 seasons as the head coach, Texas A&M posted a winning record. The Aggies advanced to the NCAA playoffs seven times and reached the College World Series in 1964. AGGIES GAIN REVENGE ON CU No. 14 Texas A&M used a balanced attack and stingy net play to defeat No. 24 Colorado, 30-19, 30-23, 30-24, in front of 983 at the Coors Events Center. The victory avenged a five-game loss to the Buffaloes earlier this season in College Station. "Everyone was so intense and focused on winning this match," A&M coach Laurie Corbelli said. "I saw it in there eyes, even in the morning practice. They were inspired, especially after losing at home in five games to Colorado earlier this year." Freshman middle blocker Melissa Munsch posted 13 blocks – an A&M record in Big 12 matches – as the Aggies tallied a season-high 16 stuffs. Her 11 block assists tied the A&M all-time record for a three-game match. The Aggies hit .301 for the match while holding Colorado to a .121 hitting percentage. A&M also outblocked and outdug the Buffaloes, 16-7 and 56-45, respectively. "Our blocking was the best it has been this season," Corbelli said. "And our serving was great. We didn’t get a lot of aces, but we didn’t have many errors and we served tough and kept them off balance." The Aggies improve to 16-3 overall and 9-2 in Big 12 play and extend their winning streak to four matches. The Buffaloes fall to 11-7, 6-4. GRANT TEAFF COMING TO COLLEGE STATION The Brazos Valley Fellowship of Christian Athletes is welcoming former Baylor football coach Grant Teaff to the College Station Hilton and Conference Center on Nov. 19 at 7 p.m. Teaff will be the feature speaker of the event, as he will share his favorite coaching memories and the impact of his faith on his coaching career. For more information on the event, please call (979) 695-9339. TWO AGGIES TAKE ARCHERY TITLES Texas A&M national champions Dawn Chudy (Media, Pa.) and Mary Zorn (Warrenville, Ill.) began the 2001 archery season the way they finished the last one: on top. The two Aggies, who between them hold four individual national titles, both set personal bests for a collegiate tournament in capturing the recurve and compound crowns at the Aggie Invitational held recently in the Champions Room at the Student Rec Center. On the final day of competition, Zorn missed her overall personal best by one point. Her score of 1,166 set on Sunday is only bettered by the 1,167 that she shot at the Texas State Indoor tournament in College Station last year. The current world record, set by Christie Bisco of the United States in 2000, is within one arrow of both of those scores at 1,173. |
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