John Alfred Seeley
Personal
Gender: Male
Date of Death: May 29, 1997
Birth Place: Silverton, OR
Death Place: Oceanside, CA
John Alfred Seeley
John Seeley Jr., 72 baseball coach, mentor to athletes who became pros
John Seeley Jr., a retired MiraCosta College baseball coach with a reputation for producing future professionals and placing athletes in four-year schools, died Thursday. He was 72.
Mr. Seeley suffered an apparent heart attack in his Carlsbad home and was taken to Tri-City Medical Center, where he never regained consciousness.
A professor emeritus at MiraCosta at the time of his death, Mr. Seeley coached and taught at the Oceanside community college for more than 30 years.
He retired in 1988.
As a head baseball and assistant football coach, he was a mentor for such prominent athletes as Doc Edwards, a former manager of the Cleveland Indians; Chris Chambliss, batting coach for the New York Yankees and a former star Yankee first baseman; and Willie Buchanon, an all-pro defensive back with the Green Bay Packers and San Diego Chargers.
Mr. Seeley also coached Kevin Towers, a former pitcher who is general manager of the San Diego Padres, and John Kentera, who received a basketball scholarship to U.S. International University and became a sports talk-show host for XTRA radio.
While turning out several championship teams, Mr. Seeley emphasized academics.
“If they’re going to your school for two years, I think you have to prepare them academically,” he told The San Diego Tribune in 1985. “I’m worried about them getting an education because not too many of them are going to make it in pro baseball.”
Mr. Seeley was born in Silverton, Ore. He played football, baseball and basketball at Linfield College in Oregon, where he received a master’s degree after serving in the Army during World War II.
He began his education career in Reedsport, Ore., teaching history, political science and physical education. He also coached boxing and basketball.
Later, in Oakridge, Ore., Mr. Seeley coached football. He was a football assistant at MiraCosta until 1974.
He is survived by his wife, Marianna; daughters, Linda Blackwell, of McMinnville, Ore., and Patricia O’Brien, of Marysville, Wash.; a son, Steven Seeley, of Seal Beach; stepchildren, Steven Whitley, of Carlsbad, and Wendi Barr, of Vista; three grandchildren and four stepgrandchildren.
A memorial services was held yesterday at Beautiful Saviour Evangelical Lutheran Church, Carlsbad. Burial was at Eternal Hills Memorial Park, Oceanside. Donations are suggested to the North County Kidney Center Patient Fund, 3300 Vista Way, Oceanside, CA 92054.
Published in The San Diego Union-Tribune, (CA) – June 4, 1997 page B6
