Our nation’s pandemic has not stopped FCA from celebrating one exceptional baseball coach. FCA recently honored Coastal Carolina University Head Baseball Coach Gary Gilmore with the 2021 Jerry Kindall Character in Coaching Award.

“Fellowship of Christian Athletes has honored an outstanding coach who has impacted countless players over his successful career” said FCA President and CEO Shane Williamson. “We congratulate Gary Gilmore for not only his accomplishments on the field, but also for the way he has touched the lives of countless young athletes—all for the glory of God.”

Gary Gilmore is in his 26^th season as Head Baseball Coach at Coastal Carolina University, his alma mater. He enters the 2021 season ranked 25^th all-time in NCAA Division I with 1,227 career wins. Gilmore was voted the 2016 National Coach of the Year by the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) and numerous other publications after the Chanticleers won the NCAA Division I National Championship in Omaha. His teams have made 16 Regional Appearances and made it to 3 Super Regionals. Coach Gilmore is a 10-time Conference Coach of the Year; and his teams have won 12 regular season and 13 conference tournament titles in his 25 years at Coastal Carolina. Prior to assuming this position, Gilmore had a successful six-year run as Head Coach at NCAA Division II University of South Carolina-Aiken.

Gilmore and his wife, Cathy, have a son (Chance), a daughter (Samantha) and three grandsons.

Named after the late Jerry Kindall, former Major League player and Head Baseball Coach at the University of Arizona, the Jerry Kindall Character in Coaching Award has been presented annually since 2006 by FCA to the college or high school baseball coach who best exemplifies the FCA Values of Integrity, Serving, Teamwork and Excellence on and off the baseball field.

The award’s namesake, Jerry Kindall, passed away on Christmas Eve 2017. The legendary coach and baseball standout was well-known and respected among his peers and those he coached over the years. He was the first person in NCAA history to win NCAA Division I College World Series titles as both a player and a head coach, winning a title as the shortstop for the 1956 National Champion University of Minnesota Golden Gophers; and later coaching the University of Arizona Wildcats to three national championships (!976, 1980 and 1986) over 24 seasons.  Kindall was a 3-time ABCA National Coach of the Year; the recipient of ABCA’s prestigious Lefty Gomez Award in 1999; and inducted into the College Baseball Hall of Fame in 2007.

Past Kindall Award recipients include Brent Lavoie (Long Beach Poly -2020), Jason Marshall (UTSA - 2019), Lynn Carlson (Greenville - 2018), Rich Maloney (Ball State - 2017), Dan McDonnell (Louisville - 2016) and Brian Shoop (UAB - 2015).

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