Jim Patterson
Jim Patterson has been involved in playing or coaching for more than 57 years in the northern Mercer County or Eastern Ohio areas.
He began his athletic career as a baseball and basketball player at Jamestown High School. He becomes one of only a few father-son combinations to become a Mercer County Hall of Famer, joining his dad Cecil "Red" Patterson in the Hall.
He has been a baseball catcher, second baseman or outfielder for 50-plus years. From Greenville Little League to the Tod Rissell League (16-18) to the Pymatuning League to the Mercer-Crawford County League, he was a mainstay on area fields from 1951 on.
In the Pymatuning and Mercer-Crawford leagues, he was an outstanding player for the Jamestown Redbirds, Greenville Merchants and Hartford teams. From 1992 to the present he has played in the Old Timers League and was with the Penn-Ohio team for 7 league titles.
He was a member of the 8th Army All-Star baseball team in 1962. He played in the Roy Hobbs World Series in Florida in the Masters Division (Over 50) several years and was twice named MVP, batting over 500 in several seasons. He also played in the Arizona World Series Classics Division.
Jim played independent basketball for 11 years. He also coached Little League in Greenville from 1976-82 and coached Greenville American Legion ball.
He taught and coached in the Joseph Badger School District, Kinsman, Ohio. His varsity basketball teams won section honors in 1968 and district title in 1969. He was a Trumbull County Coach of the Year nominee in 1974 when his baseball team won the AA district crown and was a regional runner-up. As girls basketball coach, his 1981 squad was Trumbull County AA co-champion and went on to the win the district title. He was named county Coach of the Year.
He served as athletic director at Badger from 1988-97. He was inducted into the Badger High Hall of Fame in 2005. He has served as a radio announcer in Greenville and was assistant baseball coach at Thiel College.