American Baseball Coaches Association Board member and Hall of Fame inductee William "Bill" Arce passed away on Monday, March 7, 2016. Arce was the founding Director of Athletics for Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and was baseball coach from 1959-79.
Arce served as ABCA President in 1974 and was Chairman of the ABCA Board of Directors from 1995-98. He was inducted to the ABCA Hall of Fame in 1982 and the NAIA Hall of Fame in 1976.
Born in 1925, Arce was an ambassador of baseball around the globe. He founded the International Sports Group in 1985 and was named winner of the ABCA/Wilson Lefty Gomez Award in 2000. He was also inducted to the Dutch and Italian Baseball Halls of Fame for his contributions to baseball in those countries.
At Claremont McKenna College, Arce's leadership of the Athletic Department grew the program from nine men's sports in 1958 to 19 by the time he retired in 1983, which included the addition of several women's sports in what became Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Athletics as it is today. The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps baseball field is named in Arce's honor.
On the diamond, he served as head coach from 1959-1979, posted a 446-354-16 record and won three Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference titles (1970, 1971 and 1975).
Arce was a veteran of World War II, having fought in the Battle of the Bulge in 1944. He received his undergraduate and doctorate degrees from Stanford University.
WATCH: Bill Arce Tribute Video (2013)