LCSC’s Cheff reaches 1,500 victory plateau
5-31-06

LEWISTON, Idaho – Lewis-Clark State College baseball coach Ed Cheff earned his 1,500^th career victory at the school Wednesday when the Warriors defeated the University of British Columbia 4-1 in the 50^th annual Avista NAIA World Series, which is being played at LCSC’s Harris Field.

Cheff has averaged 50 wins a season in his 30 years at LCSC and holds a career record of 1,500-398. His teams have won 13 national titles in the past 22 years and advanced to this year’s title game with Wednesday’s win. 

Cheff is the first coach to reach 1,500 wins, all at the NAIA level, and just the third coach overall to accomplish the feat. The other two are Gordie Gillespie, who has 1,470 wins at the NAIA level and 239 at the NCAA Division III level, and Gene Stephenson, who reached the 1,500 plateau in his 28^th season at Wichita State. 

On May 11, 1996, Cheff captured his 1,000th career victory with a doubleheader sweep over Central Washington, becoming only the third coach in NAIA baseball history to win 1,000 games. 

Only twice during his career has LCSC finished with less than a .700 winning percentage and in both of those years (1988 and ’89) the Warriors won national titles. He went 41-24 in 1989 for a 63.1 winning percentage. His best mark was 69-7 in 1983 for a 90.8 winning percentage. 

Cheff, 63, has been named the NAIA Coach of the Year seven times, was inducted into the NAIA Hall of Fame in 1994 and has addressed the American Baseball Coaches Association at five national meetings. Earlier this year, Cheff was inducted into the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame. 

LCSC has appeared in 25 NAIA World Series during his tenure and holds the NAIA record for most appearances, wins, championships, second-place finishes, winning percentage (for more than five games) and championship game appearances. 

Cheff’s resume away from LCSC also is impressive. He served as hitting and third-base coach for Team USA in 1994, was on the 1991 USA National Team coaching staff, and has coached the Alaska League’s Anchorage Bucs and Fairbanks Gold Panners during the summer months, winning titles as well there. 

LCSC won its first title in 1984 and also won titles in ’85, ’87, ’88, ’89, 1990, ’91, ’92, ’96, ’99, 2000, ’02, and ’03. His teams are 105-30 in Series play. 

From 1982-92, LCSC played in 11 consecutive national championship games and won eight, a feat unequalled in any NAIA sport. 

More than 100 of his players have gone on to play professional baseball and some have made it to the major leagues, including closer Keith Foulke, who helped the Boston Red Sox to their first World Series title in 86 years during 2004.