| Chuck Brayton | |||||||||
| Birth Date: | October 20, 1925 | ||||||||
| Birth Place: | Vancouver, Washington, U.S. | ||||||||
| Death Date: | March 28, 2015 (aged 89) | ||||||||
| Death Place: | Pullman, Washington, U.S. | ||||||||
| Alma Mater: | Washington State, 1950 | ||||||||
| Player Years1: | 1944, 1946–1948 | ||||||||
| Player Team1: | Washington State | ||||||||
| Player Positions: | Infielder | ||||||||
| Coach Years1: | 1951–1961 | ||||||||
| Coach Team1: | Yakima Valley JC | ||||||||
| Coach Years2: | 1962–1994 | ||||||||
| Coach Team2: | Washington State | ||||||||
| Overall Record: | (WSU) | ||||||||
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Frederick Charles Brayton (October 20, 1925 – March 28, 2015), usually known as Chuck Brayton or Bobo Brayton, was an American college baseball head coach; he led the Washington State Cougars for 33 seasons, from 1962 to 1994.[1] He is the winningest coach in school history, with a record of 1,162 wins, 523 losses and eight ties—the fourth-best total in NCAA history at the time he retired.[2]
His Cougar teams won 21 conference titles (two Northern Division and 19 Pac-8/10), including 11 in a row from 1970 to 1980. He led the Cougars to the College World Series in 1965 and 1976, and was the fifth baseball head coach in NCAA history to exceed a thousand wins.[3] Win number 1,000 came in 1990 in his 29th season, at home on April 11,[4] [5] and he coached four more years.[6]
Brayton was a three-sport varsity athlete at Washington State and played shortstop in 1944 for interim coach Jack Friel and from 1946 to 1948 for Buck Bailey;[1] he was named the school's first baseball All-American in 1947.[7] As an incoming freshman in September 1943, Brayton hitchhiked across the state to Pullman from Skagit County in northwestern Washington.[8] [9] After his freshman year, he served 18 months in the Army Air Forces.[1] [10] His #14 jersey was retired by the school in 2003,[11] [12] [13] [14] and he was inducted into the National College Baseball Hall of Fame in 2007.[2] [15]
Bailey–Brayton Field, the Cougars' home stadium since 1980, is named for Brayton and his predecessor, Buck Bailey (1896–1964).[16] When the old field was displaced by the new Mooberry track, Brayton constructed the new stadium on a budget, using items salvaged from Sick's Stadium in Seattle, as well as donated materials and volunteer labor.[8] [9] Formerly Buck Bailey Field, Brayton's name joined his mentor's in January 2000.[17]
Prior to coaching at WSU, Brayton was the head coach for over a decade at Yakima Valley Junior College,[18] [19] and also its head football coach for five seasons.[20] [21] He had a record of 251–68 in 11 seasons at Yakima and won ten championships.[9] While at Yakima, a line drive nearly killed him and he was hospitalized for a month; he wore a helmet the rest of his coaching career.[1] [22]
In declining health in his later years, Brayton died at age 89 at his Pullman home in 2015,[23] [24] [25] and was buried at the city cemetery.