Jack Dunn – Coaching

Jack Dunn2Jack Dunn (born May 31, 1929) is a sports legend in Oregon after coaching baseball for 39 years. He retired in 1994 from Portland State University after 20 straight winning seasons. At PSU, Dunn compiled a record of 630 wins against 439 losses (.589) as the head mentor. He never had a losing season at Portland State.

Playing in the PAC-10 Northern Division, the Vikings won the 1984 league title and placed in the upper division eight times in his last 11 years. PSU also won the North NCAA Regional playoffs. The Vikings also won the NorPac in 1977, qualifying for regionals. In 1984 and 1986 Dunn’s teams won 39 games, the state’s collegiate record.

He had an equally successful 19-year career guiding Portland high school programs at Cleveland (14 years) and Wilson (5 years). He is the only coach to win city (PIL) championships at two Portland high schools. His Watco Electric American Legion teams were among the top programs in the Pacific Northwest including a 2nd place finish in the 1972 Northwest Regionals and 3rd place finish in the 1973 America Legion World Series.

Forty of Dunn’s players signed professional baseball contracts. In 1995, Coach Dunn received the Oregon Sportswriters Distinguished Service Award for Sports.

Before dedicating his life to teaching and coaching, Jack played ten years of professional baseball in the Los Angeles (Brooklyn) Dodgers organization.

He is also the author of “From The Third Base Coach’s Box.”

He was inducted into the Portland State University Athletics Hall of Fame in 1998 and now inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame.

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