We were blessed at Bentley. OF 6'0" 183 lbs 1 Danny Gleaves. Sikes helped tutor a Spartan offense that posted the Big Ten's third-best batting average (.283) in 2016. In eight seasons, Boss has compiled a 264-181 (.593) record. Has your kid's coach helped them through this crisis?Nominate them for a chance to win $2500! Perhaps no player knew the legendary longer than Bill McLemore, who served as Bentley’s bat boy at age 8, played for the Bulldogs until he graduated in 1984 and later returned to Vukovich’s dugout as an assistant coach. “He was as father figure to thousands of kids. The six first-team All-Big Ten selections in 2011 were the most in program history and featured Player of the Year Jeff Holm, Pitcher of the Year Kurt Wunderlich and Big Ten batting champion Brandon Eckerle. .lobar-close {background-image:url('//assets.ngin.com/site_files/2730/m/lp/lp-template-2/base/athlete-of-the-month/close-icon-white.png') !important;} In addition to his individual induction into the Greater Flint Area Sports Hall of Fame in 2002, Vukovich was inducted as a player with the 1953 Flint Northern baseball team and as a coach with his two state champion Bentley squads. On the summer baseball circuit, he played for American Legion Fisher Post 342 and led many of those same Northern players to consecutive state championships in 1951 and 1952. (File | MLive.com). Current Bentley athletic director Scott Bednarski played for Vukovich and described him as the type of coach who never had to scream to get his point across. In his first two seasons on the Spartan staff, Sikes has played an integral role in helping the Spartans win the Big Ten Championship in 2011 and earn a berth in the NCAA Tournament in 2012. Bentley High School baseball coach Jim Vukovich watches the action from the dugout. FRIDAY, JANUARY 10, 2020. “If you talked to 50 people in this area who knew him, everyone would have a Vuke story,” Troesken said. Everyone got to play some T-ball in his backyard, and every time, he’d try to get them interested in baseball first.”. During his induction speech for the Greater Flint Area Sports Hall of Fame, Vukovich expressed his love for coaching baseball and what sports in general meant to him. “In his induction to the Greater Flint Area Hall of Fame, he almost deflected being the guy and wanted to talk more about his teams, the teams he played on and his players. “I had fun, even on those cold, rainy spring days which were more like winter than baseball weather. The longtime baseball skipper leaves behind an unmatched coaching legacy at Burton Bentley and an impressive résumé as a player at Flint Northern and the University of Michigan. On a night designed to recognize his accomplishments as an athlete and longtime coach, Jim Vukovich took the podium at the 2002 Greater Flint Area Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony, but rather than talk about himself and his decorated career of more than five decades, he redirected praise toward just about everybody else. The year prior, a school-record eight players were taken in 2015: Cam Gibson (fifth round, Detroit), Ryan Krill (ninth round, New York Yankees), Anthony Misiewicz (18th round, Seattle), Cam Vieaux (19th round, Detroit), Jeff Kinley (28th round, Miami), Mick VanVossen (28th round, Washington), Blaise Salter (31st round, Detroit) and Mark Weist (37th round, San Francisco). Under Boss' watch at MSU, players have earned All-Big Ten honors 34 times. In all the hours Vukovich spent talking with his players, his students and his family, he never brought up was his own personal accomplishments, so his daughter, Arlene, couldn’t help but admire his humility when she started learning more about the unassuming coach who carved out a career as one of the best in Michigan high school baseball history. That passion for sports and helping young athletes made him one of the most respected members of the community, said Troesken. “He’d let us come to his games, and sometimes we’d sit in the dugout and run the bases,” she said. R-Jr. Homer Glen, Ill. St. Rita. He also serves as the program's recruiting coordinator. He was more interested in talking about the accomplishments of the team and his players than himself. Michigan High School Baseball Coaches Association, This website is powered by SportsEngine's. .lobar-content p a, .lobar-content p a:link { height: auto !important; color: white !important; background-color:#13aa37 !important; padding:5px 8px !important; margin-left:10px !important; line-height:13px !important; font-size: 13px !important; font-weight: bold !important; text-transform: none !important; } “When I first met him, he was legendary because he had already won two state championships, so he was almost larger than life and a very tall man,” said Bednarski, who graduated from Bentley in 1994. Bentley coach Jim Vukovich waits in line before being inducted into the 37th Greater Flint Area Sports Hall of Fame on behalf of the 1975 Burton Bentley Baseball Team on Saturday, Dec. 3, 2016 at the Genesys Banquet and Conference Center in Grand Blanc. After graduating from Flint Northern, he earned three varsity letters as a first baseman at the University of Michigan, then guided Montrose’s boys basketball team to a district title during a three-year run with the Rams, before ending up at Bentley, where he spent the final 37 years of his coaching career. mattrem@ath.msu.edu. In his program bio for the ceremony, he mentions more about the people around him than stuff about himself. Please support high-quality journalism.
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