50 Years Ago, Kindall Led Arizona Baseball to Historic Championship in Omaha
OMAHA, Neb. – Being in the hunt for a national championship was nothing new for the University of Arizona
when the 1976 College World Series got underway on June 11 inside Omaha’s Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium.
At the end of the day that goal had taken a bitter hit as arch-rival Arizona State slipped past the Wildcats 7-6 in 10
innings and forcing Arizona to prove its mettle.
Arizona was making its 10th appearance at the College World Series and had finished as national runners-up three
previous times (1956, 1958, 1960).
When the 30 th College World Series ended on June 19 Arizona was sitting atop the baseball world after defeating
Eastern Michigan 7-1 in the championship game.
And making history along the way.
Not only was it the first NCAA baseball championship for the Wildcats, it was the first national championship of
any kind for the University of Arizona.
History was also made as first-year Arizona head coach Jerry Kindall became the first person to win a College
World Series as a player and as a coach.
The Wildcats never trailed in the championship game against Eastern Michigan.
After taking a 1-0 lead in the third inning, Arizona tacked on four runs in the fourth inning, highlighted by a two-run
home run from designated hitter Steve Powers and a two-run double from Dave Stegman, to put the Wildcats in
front 5-0.
They would add single runs in the fifth and eighth innings to push the lead to 7-0, but the Hurons avoided the
shutout by pushing a run across in the top of the ninth inning on a homer off the bat of Glenn Gulliver.
Bob Chaulk got the win on the mound for the Wildcats in the final game after limiting Eastern Michigan to just six
hits.
Powers, who was voted the outstanding player of the College World Series, finished with two hits in three plate
appearances in the championship game and drove in three runs for the Wildcats.
Stegman also had three hits and three RBI in the winning effort. He finished the tournament with four doubles to tie
the record. Pete Van Horne set a record with 13 hits in the tournament, including three in the championship game.
Arizona had advanced to Omaha after defeating Texas-Pan American (5-0), Missouri (10-1) and Texas A&M (8-2)
in the Midwest Regional in Edinburg, Texas.
The Wildcats’ first opponent at the CWS were the rival Sun Devils.
And the game was not void of controversy.
Arizona held a 5-2 lead heading into the ninth inning behind some solid pitching from Powers, the ace of the staff.
Kindall brought in reliever Craig Gioia, who retired the first batter he faced before giving up three straight singles
that allowed Arizona State to tie the game.
In the 10 th inning, ASU’s Ken Landreaux reached base on a single and Kindall protested the pine tar on Landreaux’s
bat, claiming it was more than the allowable 18 inches up the bat.
The umpires removed the bat from play, but allowed the hit to stand. Brandt Humphrey belted a two-run homer a
short time later to secure a 7-6 win for the Sun Devils.
It was the seventh loss of the season for the Wildcats against their arch-rival.
They responded well by crushing Oklahoma (10-2), Clemson (10-6) and Eastern Michigan (11-6) to keep their title
hopes alive heading into a second meeting against Arizona State in the tournament.
Powers rapped out four hits while allowing just three hits and teammate Bolek hit a two-run home run to power
Arizona into the championship game with a 5-1 triumph and ending a seven-game losing streak to the Sun Devils.
Eastern Michigan downed Michigan (6-0) and Illinois State (3-0) before falling to Michigan 5-3 to force a winner-
take-all finale in the Mideast Regional in Ypsilanti. The Hurons won the championship with another 6-0 shutout of
the Wolverines.
EMU’s appearance in the CWS championship would be the last for a northern team until Michigan reached the title
game in 2019.
Kindall had played for Minnesota when the Golden Gophers won the College World Series in 1956 and defeating
Arizona twice in the tournament, including 12-1 in the championship game after winning 3-1 earlier in the
tournament.
Kindall also became the first batter to hit for the cycle in the history of the CWS. He was an All-American shortstop
that season after hitting .381, along with 18 home runs and 48 RBI.
He would go on to play nine seasons in the Major Leagues with the Chicago Cubs (1956-58, 1960-61), Cleveland
Indians (1962-64) and the Minnesota Twins (1964-65).
The history made at the 1976 College World Series was not limited to Arizona and Kindall.
Arizona State’s team featured 13 future Major League players on its 1976 roster to equal the record the Sun Devils
set the previous season.
Oklahoma’s Keith Drumright became the first person to play in four College World Series during their collegiate
career. He was drafted in the fourth round of the 1976 amateur draft after being drafted in the 18 th round of the 1974
draft by Montreal before enrolling at Oklahoma, where he was an All-American second baseman.
Kindall, who was an assistant coach at Arizona in 1972 before taking over the following season, would go on to win
two more CWS championships (1980, 1986) in his 24 seasons at the helm of the Arizona program. He finished with
a career record of 860-579-7 (.597).
He was elected to the College Baseball Hall of Fame in 2007.
Kindall, a native of St. Paul, Minn., died on Dec. 24, 2017 in Tucson three days after suffering a major stroke.
He was 82 years old.
1976 CWS Results
Game 1 Clemson 9, Auburn 4
Game 2 Eastern Michigan 3, Maine 2
Game 3 Arizona State 7, Arizona 6 (10 innings)
Game 4 Washington State 6, Oklahoma 1
Game 5 Maine 9, Auburn 8 (Auburn eliminated)
Game 6 Arizona State 10, Oklahoma 2 (Oklahoma eliminated)
Game 7 Eastern Michigan 3, Clemson 2 (10 innings)
Game 8 Arizona State 9, Washington State 3
Game 9 Arizona 10, Clemson 6 (Clemson eliminated)
Game 10 Maine 6, Washington State 3 (Washington State eliminated)
Game 11 Eastern Michigan 2, Arizona State 1
Game 12 Arizona State 7, Maine 0 (Maine eliminated)
Game 13 Arizona 11, Eastern Michigan 6
Game 14 Arizona State 5, Arizona State 1 (Arizona State eliminated)
Championship Arizona 7, Eastern Michigan 1
All-Tournament Team
Arizona: Bob Chaulk, P. Ron Hassey, C. Dave Stegman, OF. Pete Van Horne, OF.
Arizona State: Ken Landreaux, SS. Ken Phelps, 1B.
Eastern Michigan: Bob Owchinko, P. Brian Petroff, 3B. Dan Schmitz, 2B.
Maine: Russ Quetti, SS.
Most Outstanding Player
Steve Powers
Designated Hitter
Arizona
A native of Bismarck, N.D., Ray is a graduate of North Dakota State University where he began studying athletic training and served as a student trainer for several Bison teams including swimming, wrestling and baseball and was a trainer at the 1979 NCAA national track and field championship meet at the University of Illinois. Ray later worked in the sports information office at NDSU. Following his graduation from NDSU he spent five years in the sports information office at Missouri Western State University and one year in the sports information at Georgia Tech. He has nearly 40 years of writing experience as a sports editor at several newspapers and has received numerous awards for his writing over the years. A noted sports historian, Ray is currently an assistant editor at Amateur Wrestling News.
