Jim Wasem Sr. coached in more than 900 collegiate baseball games in a 23-year career as a head baseball coach at three different schools from 1968-90. He spent nine of those seasons (1982-90) at Eastern Washington University, which competed as a member of the Pacific 10 Conference Northern Division. He was 230-251-1 overall with a 78-135 league record.
Prior to that, he spent nine seasons at Northwest Missouri State (1973-81) where he had a collective 226-119 record in nine seasons for a .644 winning percentage. He won 61 percent of his games in five seasons (1968-72) at Monmouth in Illinois, finishing with a 64-41-1 overall record.
In 23 seasons at the helm of collegiate programs, Wasem coached in 933 games. He won 56 percent of those outings, with a 520-411-2 record.
At Eastern, Wasem's 1988 team finished up strong by winning four of six games in the Pac-10 Northern Division Tournament to finish second behind champion Washington State. His best season, percentage-wise, came in 1985 when the Eagles had a collective 42-24 record (.636).
Wasem came to the EWU campus in Cheney, Wash., after nine seasons at Northwest Missouri State where his record included four Missouri Intercollegiate Athletic Association titles at the NCAA Division II level. His players included Gary Gaetti, who would go on to a 20-year career in Major League Baseball.
Wasem's first collegiate head coaching position was at Monmouth College, where he won divisional titles in each of his five seasons at the school. He also coached basketball, compiling a 65-33 record. Prior to that, he spent five seasons as an assistant coach in baseball and basketball at Illinois State.
His resume also includes five years at high schools in Kinmundy and Roxana, Ill. Those teams won five baseball championships and two basketball titles. Wasem was also a successful American Legion baseball coach and a Central Illinois Collegiate Baseball League coach-business manager.
Wasem is a native of Vandalia, Ill., and was an honor student who earned four letters each in baseball, basketball and track at Vandalia and Patoka high schools. He was most valuable player three times each in baseball and basketball, and earned All-State honors in track.
Wasem won 11 college letters at Illinois Wesleyan, picking up four each in baseball and basketball. In baseball, he was a four-time All-College Conference of Illinois shortstop. He earned all-league honors three times in basketball and was a Sigma Chi All-American in both sports. He was the school's 1957 Athlete of the Year and Outstanding Student-Athlete of the Year.
Wasem played professional baseball for three years in the Chicago White Sox organization at Holdredge (Nebraska State), Duluth (Northern) and Lincoln (Midwestern). He was the all-star shortstop in his first two seasons and he led the Nebraska State League with a .366 average in 1957 when he set a minor league record with 12-straight hits. He began coaching in the off-season.
Wasem earned his master's degree from Illinois State in 1963 and a doctorate in education at the same institution in 1981. He has written almost two dozen articles for professional baseball journals and is the author of two books: "Heads-Up Baseball" and "Winning Basketball With Multiple Offenses." He has been honored by three Halls of Fame (Illinois Wesleyan University, Clarinda A's and Northwest Missouri State University), with his 1975 baseball team inducted into the NMSU Hall of Fame in 1996. He was also recognized as a collegiate physical education teacher of the year in the state of Washington.
Wasem and his wife of more than 50 years, Jean, have two grown children and four grandchildren. Their son, Jim Jr., played minor league baseball after starring as EWU's shortstop from 1983-84. Jim Jr., was also an assistant coach for his father, and has gone on to a successful teaching and coaching career at Rogers High School in Spokane, Wash., where he coached Jim Wasem III.
Jean passed away on Dec. 12, 2015, at the age of 81.
More on Jim Wasem Jr. . . .
-- Played as a shortstop for his father, Jim Wasem Sr., at Eastern in the 1983 and 1984 seasons after transferring from Northwest Missouri State.
-- He hit .279 at Eastern with two home runs, 27 stolen bases, 29 RBI and 43 runs scored in 52 games as a senior in 1984. In 42 games as a junior, he hit .333 with a home run, nine stolen bases, 26 RBI and 21 runs scored. Eastern was 30-23 overall and 11-10 in the Pacific 10 Conference Northern Division in 1984, and 25-17 the year before with an 11-13 Pac 10 record.
-- As a senior in 1984, he was selected to the All-Pac 10 Northern Division team, becoming the first and only Eastern player to earn first team accolades.
-- Of the 90 hits he had in his career, 26 were doubles as he set the school record for both career doubles and doubles in a single season (16 in 1984). His 27 stolen bases (in 31 total attempts) as a senior was also a school record. At one point in his senior season, he went 22 games without an error (97 total chances).
-- In summer 1983, he earned All-America honors at the National Baseball Congress (NBC) Tournament in Wichita, Kan., while playing shortstop for the Clarinda A's in Iowa. He led the team to a fifth-place finish and 42-20 record on the season. He hit .381 in the series and drove in seven runs with four doubles and four singles. He had a .912 fielding percentage in the tournament and finished the season with 73 RBI.
-- He was drafted in the 25th round (627th selection overall) by the San Francisco Giants in the 1984 Major League Baseball draft. He played five seasons of minor league baseball as an infielder, including the last three for the San Diego Padres. He reached the AA level with the Wichita Pilots, and also played for the Everett Giants, Clinton Giants, Fresno Giants Charleston Rainbows, and the Reno Padres. He hit .257 in 1,634 career at bats with 420 hits, 55 doubles, four home runs, 146 RBI, 307 runs scored and 84 stolen bases.
-- He went on to play professionally in Europe for the Netherlands Neptunus, helping them win the Confederation of European Baseball Cup Winners championship in 1990 and the Holland Series title in 1991.
-- He has since gone on to a highly-successful coaching career at Rogers High School in Spokane. His son, Jim Wasem III, played for him there (senior in the 2009-10 school year).
