OBITUARIES - Nov. 12, 2009

John Scolinos, 91, who won three Division II national championships as Cal Poly Pomona’s baseball coach, died of age-related causes Saturday at a hospital, a school official said.

After becoming Pomona’s head baseball coach in 1962, Scolinos turned the program into a powerhouse, winning Division II national championships in 1976, 1980 and 1983.

He also won six California College Athletic Assn. championships and was named Division II coach of the year three times. He also coached 14 seasons, from 1946 to 1960, at Pepperdine University and retired in 1991 with a combined 1,198 victories.

Scolinos was inducted into the American Assn. of Collegiate Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame in 1974.

Born March 28, 1918, in Los Angeles, Scolinos graduated in 1937 from Manual Arts High School, where he played football because the school didn’t have a baseball team.

He played semipro baseball during the summer and in the minor leagues for the St. Louis Browns before World War II. He served in the Army Air Forces from 1942 to 1945.

Scolinos earned a bachelor’s degree in education at Pepperdine and a master’s in education at USC.

In 1984, he was the pitching coach for the U.S. Olympic baseball team.