Two legendary members of Sinclair sports history became the inaugural inductees of the Sinclair Athletics Hall of Fame Friday at the culminating event of Athletics Reunion Week at Sinclair.
The inductees were former head baseball coach Jim Harrison and former women’s basketball and tennis coach/Assistant Athletics Director Linda O’Keefe.
Both coaches were noted for their impact outside of sports along with their accomplishments in their respective sports.
Harrison served as the head baseball coach for 14 years, from 1988 to 2002, during which he won 4 conference championships and helped many students earn scholarships at four-year universities. He also coached Chris Spurling, who eventually was drafted by the Yankees and was a professional relief pitcher for the Detroit Tigers and Milwaukee Brewers.
O’Keefe played tennis at the University of Dayton before playing on the Avon Futures Tour. She coached tennis at Sinclair for 19 seasons, from 1979 to 1998, where she coached the team to 17 regional championships, 17 national tournament appearances, and to a National runner-up finish in 1991.
O’Keefe also coached women’s basketball at Sinclair for 25 years, from 1978 to 2003, where she won 346 games. Her tenure also included a 26-0 team in 1985-86, four conference championships, 3 regional championships, and a trip to the NJCAA Elite 8 in 2003. Along with her induction to the Sinclair Athletics Hall of Fame, she has also been inducted into the Dayton Tennis Hall of Fame and the NJCAA Women’s Tennis Coaches Hall of Fame.
Both of these coaches have a list of accomplishments a mile long, but they were also known for their impact not just on sports, but on the lives of players and colleges alike.
Sinclair Athletic Director and head coach of the men’s basketball team Jeff Price was one of the many impacted by Harrison, who made it a point to keep Price’s head up after a tough first year, where the basketball team only won six games.
“During the second season, I was sitting in my cubicle. Coach Harrison comes up to me, bends down to my level and says, ‘I’m proud of you.’”
Norma Dycus, a former Sinclair athletic director, said the following on O’Keefe:
“If she wasn’t a coach, she could’ve been a sports psychologist and she’d have been great. So many kids just needed a helping hand with many aspects of their lives and she was willing to listen and be patient and supply the discipline and support a lot of them needed.”
Harrison loved coaching so much that even a triple bypass heart surgery near the end of a long run as a multi-sport coach at Wayne High School couldn’t stop him.
Instead of calling it quits, he instead came to Sinclair to start yet another long successful tenure. Harrison was still on the baseball staff at Sinclair until he suffered a heart attack in the fieldhouse.
The players were very touched by Harrison that they dedicated their season to him that year, and went on to a 36-12 record and made the Region XII title game.
Speaking on Harrison’s behalf was current head baseball coach Steve Dintaman. Dintaman played for Harrison during his time as a student athlete at Sinclair, was an assistant coach with Harrison and also hired Harrison as an assistant to work for him during his first year as head coach in 2008.
“After Coach Harrison passed and we dedicated our season to him, we always had a big thing about having a ‘why’ of doing things. He was our ‘why’.”
Long time sports writer for the Dayton Daily News Tom Archdeacon served as the master of ceremonies for the event.
When Coach O’Keefe was diagnosed with breast cancer she agreed to speak with him about it, but had a rule.
“She said, ’You’re not going to make this a sob story or a weepy thing, because that’s not who I am. You’re not going to define me like that,’” Archdeacon recalled. “Then I got about four feet from the door and she comes powering after me and lectures me again, ‘Do you understand what I’m saying about this story? You’re not going to define me like that.’”
Coach O’Keefe and Coach Harrison will forever be remembered for their accomplishments both on the field/court and off, and are prime examples of the type of character represented by the Sinclair Athletics Hall of Fame.
Paul Helmers
Reporter