Jerry Dawson
Chaparral High School
Impact Statement
Dawson retired as having the most wins of any baseball coach in the state of Arizona.
Biography
The only baseball coach Chaparral has had since the program’s inception in 1974, Dawson has led the Firebirds to a record of 774-301 and 34 trips to the state playoffs in his 36 seasons at the helm. His resume includes 23 region championships, 19 appearances in the state’s final four, 12 trips to the state title game and eight 4A state championships – in 1994, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2008.
Moving up to 5A Division 2 this season, his team finished 20-12. More than 140 of his players have gone on to play college or professional baseball, including current major leaguers Paul Konerko and Brian Bannister.
A nine-time state Coach of the Year, Dawson was awarded the Victory with Honor Coach of the Year award by the Arizona Interscholastic Association in 2004 and previously won four national Coach of the Year awards, most recently the Easton/Collegiate Baseball Master Coach of the Year award in 2009. He was inducted into the Arizona Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2002, the Arizona Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2005 and the Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2009.
Dawson was an assistant coach on the USA Baseball Junior National Team that competed in the World Games in Chinese Taipei in 2004, and was the head coach of the USA Baseball Junior National Team that won the silver medal in the Pan-Am Games in Villa Hermosa, Mexico in 2005.
Dawson retired from his position at Chapparela High in 2010 after 37 years at the helm. He retired as the most winningest baseball coach in the state of Arizona.
As of 2020, Dawson is now in his ninth season as the pitching coach at Yavapai College. He has had multiple student-athletes move on to Division I programs. In addition, Dawson and the Yavapai program has had major league success with Houston Astro’s World Series pitcher Kenny Giles who was drafted in the 2011 draft.
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