Former UCLA Coach Glenn Mickens Passes Away
July 12, 2019 | Baseball
Former UCLA assistant baseball coach Glenn Mickens passed away on Tuesday at the age of 88.
Mickens, who pitched professionally for 15 years, served as an assistant coach with UCLA's program for over 25 seasons, working alongside head coaches Art Reichle and Gary Adams.
A former teammate of Jackie Robinson (with the Montreal Royals and the Brooklyn Dodgers), Mickens attended UCLA in the early 1950s and returned to his alma mater in 1962 as an assistant coach. For his first three seasons, he assisted head coach Art Reichle with the early stages of practice before leaving to play professional baseball. He became a full-time coach with the baseball team in 1965, helping UCLA compile a record of 835-616-6 over the next 25 seasons.
"Coach Mickens was, in a lot of ways, like John Wooden," Coach Adams said. "Coach Wooden had been named as the greatest coach of the 20th century, but for me, I felt like Mick was the greatest assistant coach of the 20th century. That's my opinion. He could throw batting practice all day long, and they were strikes. The guys loved to hit off of him. He was a great assistant, very loyal, and you always knew that he had your back.
"I saw Tommy Lasorda last week," Adams recalled, "and he was bragging about how he probably threw more batting practice to his players than anybody in America. But I had to bite my lip. I didn't want to tell him that Coach Mick had probably out-pitched him there. He was more than just a pitching coach, in my estimation. Guys who've gone on to manage in the big leagues, such as Torey Lovullo and Ron Roenicke, Mick was their coach, too. He was just a coach's dream. He was a wonderful guy who everybody loved."
Born in Los Angeles, Mickens graduated from Fremont High School before attending UCLA. He was unable to play baseball for the Bruins, as he had been ruled a professional.
When Adams replaced Reichle as the Bruins' head baseball coach in 1975, Adams asked Mickens to stay on the coaching staff as his top assistant.
Before Mickens returned to Westwood in the 1960s, he played professionally all over the world. Mickens played winter baseball in Cuba, Venezuela and Japan. His professional career included a brief stint with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1953. He competed in the Dodgers' organization from 1950-58.
Former Brooklyn Dodger Glenn Mickens, who played with Jackie Robinson and later coached at UCLA, passed away this week at 88 years old. https://t.co/PgksfTkNJQ
— Dodger Insider (@DodgerInsider) July 12, 2019
Mickens pitched in four games with the Dodgers in 1953, debuting at 22 years old. He spent the remainder of the season in the minor leagues. In his first major league start, Mickens threw four innings in a game that Brooklyn won, 15-4, against the Cubs. That victory included home runs from Duke Snider, Gil Hodges, Pee Wee Reese and Bobby Morgan.
During the 1955 minor league season (triple-A), he went 12-3 with a 2.18 ERA, primarily as a relief pitcher for Montreal. He moved on to compete in Japan, pitching mainly as a starter with the Kintetsu Buffaloes from 1959-63. While in Kintetsu, he logged an ERA under 3.50 in each of five seasons.
Among several of the other teams that Mickens played for were the Hollywood Stars and the Los Angeles Angels of the Pacific Coast League, plus the Montreal Royals, the Dodgers' top farm team in the International League.
While coaching at UCLA, Mickens helped the Bruins advanced to the College World Series in 1969. Other top performances came in 1976 (first place in the CIBA), 1979 (first place in the Pac-10) and 1986 (first place in the Pac-10).
Several of the major league pitchers who were under Mickens' tutelage at UCLA included Floyd Chiffer, Pat Clements, Tim Leary, Mike Magnante, Dave Rucker, Dave Schmidt and Matt Young. The 1989 baseball season marked his final year as an assistant coach at UCLA.
After he retired from coaching, Mickens moved to Hawaii with his wife, Ruth. He is survived by his wife, his son (Scott) and his daughter (Shaun).
