Former Bruin Baseball Coach Reichle Dead

Former UCLA baseball coach Art Reichle, a member of the school’s Hall of Fame and the College Baseball Hall of Fame, died Tuesday in Melbourne, Fla., of congestive heart failure. He was 86.

Reichle played football, rugby and baseball at UCLA from 1934-36. He then became a baseball assistant, coaching Jackie Robinson, before taking over the Bruin program in 1941. After one year he entered the Army and served until 1946, when he resumed coaching at UCLA.

He retired as coach after the 1974 season with a 747-582-12 record. The Bruins won their first Pacific 8 Conference title in 1969.

Reichle was an assistant athletic director at UCLA until 1980. He continued to teach at clinics and assist high school coaches during his retirement in Ventura County. After moving to Suntree, Fla., in 1989, he assisted coaches in Brevard County and helped start a Pony baseball program. He helped start Pony baseball in Los Angeles in the 1940s.

Reichle is survived by his wife Ruth, sons Arthur Jr. of Bullhead City, Ariz., and Richard of Canyon Country, and daughter Denise Margarite of Woodland Hills.