Oregon baseball coaching record now held by Art Thunell

The old record in Oregon for most wins by a high school baseball coach was 566. Art Thunell's Prospectors gave him his 567th win on March 30. They've added a couple since then.

The Prospectors are the Grant Union High School team. The high school is located between John Day and Canyon City, and serves several communities.

Canyon City was at the center of a gold rush starting in 1862, hence the school mascot.

UPDATE: Reporter Joe Freeman has written a feature story on Art Thunell for the Oregonian. See Pride of John Day

A key passage:

...Although the name Art Thunell is synonymous with success in Oregon baseball circles, it is measured by more than wins and losses in Grant County.

"I didn't realize how good a coach and mentor he was until I got out of high school and started facing tough decisions in life," says Ken Niles, a former Grant Union player and assistant coach who now coaches Sheldon. "I spent three hours a day on the baseball field learning more about life than baseball. You just don't realize it when you're a kid."

And this is by design.

"We only ask three things of our kids: We ask them to play hard, to be focused and to be a class act," Thunell says. "My goal is to develop some really nice kids who go out and have success in the world outside of baseball. We want them to understand that commitment is extremely important and dedication is important and they need to work hard." ...