Former Chico State baseball coach Lindsay Meggs joins 51st Chico Sports Hall of Fame class

CHICO - Chico State baseball and its success cannot be defined without mentioning two-time National Champion coach Lindsay Meggs. In his 13 years at the helm of the Wildcats, Meggs led Chico State to four National Championship appearances, won national titles in 1997 and 1999, and led his team seven NCAA Division II World Series appearances.

On Monday, May 18 Meggs will join former Chico State men's soccer player Chris Wondolowski, longtime Northern Section coach and commissioner Scott Johnson and Chico High School track and field record holder Kami Smith as part of the 51st Chico Sports Hall of Fame at the Chico Sports Hall of Fame and Senior Athletes Banquet. The banquet will begin at 7 p.m. at Manzanita Place at the Chico Elks Lodge.

"I'm retired and enjoying that. It's a full circle so it was a pleasant surprise," Meggs said when first learning about his induction. "I had a great experience in Chico so I was really excited about it."

As a player Meggs played third base at UCLA and even spent time in the minor leagues with the Kansas City Royals, and after his playing career was over he was searching for what was next. He spent one year in law school, seeing his father as a longtime attorney and his brother following in his father's footsteps as an attorney as well. He realized after one year in law school that he missed the game of baseball, and he had friends calling saying there would be opportunities in the coaching world if he would be interested.

He first began his coaching career at De Anza and Cal Lutheran as an assistant before getting opportunities at Oxnard and Long Beach City College in head coaching roles. Those roles at the junior college and in southern California proved key, as Meggs often recruited transfer students from successful programs he formerly coached. Meggs got his master's degree, and his 26-year coaching career began.

"I was hooked and glad that I made the move," Meggs said.

Meggs came to Chico State in 1994, and the move would not have been possible without his former UCLA teammate and 2003 Chico Sports Hall of Fame inductee Pat Clements. Clements and Meggs would laugh together about how the Wildcats' head baseball coach position would one day open and Clements would suggest Meggs' name as a possibility.

"That's exactly what happened. They made a change and he marched into the athletic department and said ‘hey I have a name for you,' " Meggs said. "At that time I had won some games, but they didn't know me from any other junior coach in California, but they certainly knew Pat Clements and respected his opinion. That's how I got on their radar and got my foot in the door and they wanted me to interview. It seemed like a good fit on both ends, but had it not been for Pat Clements there's no way that they would've even called me."

At the time Meggs had two young children and wanted to have a third, and Meggs and his wife thought Chico would be a great area to raise their children. Meggs' wife Theresa was good friends with Clements' wife, and the four thought it would be a really fun plan to raise their children together. From a baseball perspective Meggs was excited as well.

"I liked the town and I looked at Chico like a minor league baseball town. There wasn't a lot of opportunities there in terms of entertainment," Meggs said. "I thought hey if we get this thing going people might get behind it because it has that small town field almost like the midwest."

When Meggs arrived in Chico he took a program that had never won a postseason game and turned it into a powerhouse. Meggs' teams won two national championships, appeared in the NCAA D-II College World Series seven times and won eight conference titles. He was named the NCAA D-II National Coach of the Year twice (1997, 1999), and was an integral part in the renovation of the baseball stadium that eventually became today's Nettleton Stadium.

"I can remember tearing down the backstop, building a new one and a local contractor in town building a clubhouse for us behind the backstop for our players before Nettleton Stadium was ours," Meggs said. "Our players literally carried in bleachers from the soccer field behind home plate for every weekend at home. There were too many challenges to list, but the number one challenge was the facility and getting it to a point where when kids would come on visits they would say this is a place where we can play and win."

Establishing a culture

When Meggs arrived at Chico State he had people ask him why he would accept a job where he couldn't give people scholarships, and how he would get players to play for him in Chico. People said he would never win if you can't offer players money. Instead, he became the first team to win a national baseball championship in 1997 without offering players scholarships.

"It's never been done since and it'll never be done again because everybody has them now. That was probably the most rewarding thing if you look at it historically because it had never been done before and people said we couldn't do it," Meggs said.

Meggs recruited hard from the junior college background where he had a background from his previous coaching days.

"We had the right players and a unique toughness to us that was second to none," Meggs said.

Meggs' teams were defined by toughness. They prided themselves in their ability to win 1-run games, their ability to come from behind, their ability to put people away, and it was all built around their desire to be the toughest team on the field for nine innings.

"That's what separated us without question," Meggs said.

Dave Mallas was a second baseman and captain for the Wildcats' 1997 National Champion team. Mallas said that you weren't going to play for Meggs if you weren't tough, and Meggs' detail oriented practices stood out.

"He's a good motivator, and you knew that he wanted to win," Mallas said. "You knew he wanted you to play a certain way and that was with toughness and with energy."

Mallas said each time the Wildcats took to the field they believed they were going to work harder and play better than their opposition.

"We will do it better than you today because we work harder, we want it more, and the refuse to lose mentality," Mallas said. "If you beat us you're going to earn it. We're not just going to fall behind, we're going to chip away. As long as we have an out to play with we're going to make it count."

Many players on the Wildcats' teams thought they could play Division I, but after realizing they couldn't, they came to D-II Chico State with a chip on their shoulders.

"He took a bunch of guys and when we got the postseason we didn't care about what the history was. That was his big thing was that I could care less what it was before me," Mallas said. "The lack of success prior had nothing to do with him. He got people to buy into him, he got people to love Chico and made it what it is."

Tim Hairston, a former player of Meggs at Chico State, said his former coach was a hard man, had high expectations for his players and ran a tight ship. Hairston said other teams seemed like they had everything and the Wildcats seemingly had nothing, but Meggs did a good job of making his players feel like they had nothing but giving them everything he had to make his players feel like they were in a big program.

"I think the level of preparation he demanded of us was nothing like it," Hairston said. "The expectation every week in practice was perfection. He made you understand what it took to win, so when you would get into the game you'd settle in and realize we're going to win this game. It was based upon his beliefs and consistency with what it was going to take to win so you weren't really surprised to win. You almost got addicted to the feeling, but also the process of it. I loved the process."

While Meggs was tough, he made his players feel worthy of winning. Players felt they deserved to win because they were prepared to win, but also that they deserved to win because of the work they put in.

"You just kind of felt like you were with this guy that was better than everybody else," Hairston said. "That was the ask and expectation. I don't know if it was fear based and general admiration. He held us to a high standard every single minute. We came together, maybe sometimes because of how difficult it was. I don't know if it was love or respect, he checked a lot of boxes.

"He was almost like a father, probably if not the best or top coaches we've ever had. He was consistent and we knew every day he would be there, he was always the same and that was good. It was hard but it was good."

Hairston said he believes the keys to Meggs' success were that he was a really good leader, recruited well and had some great assistant coaches along his side. In 1998 Hairston joined Meggs' staff as an assistant coach after graduating when the Wildcats went to the College World Series and lost.

While Meggs' teams were 100% defined by toughness, what he hopes to be remembered by is that he and his staff's mission was always their players.

" We wanted to make our players better, and we wanted to make our players get comfortable being uncomfortable," Meggs said. "We knew they'd have to go out in the world and deal with things after baseball that are real life things and are a challenge for all of us, and we wanted them to have the tools to deal with that. We put pressure on them in practice, we challenged them in the games, they always responded, they always looked forward to the challenge, and I think it's made them good fathers, good community leaders and good family men and that was always our goal. I hope that's what they remember that everything we did was for them and about them with the goal of making them better people when they left. It wasn't just about winning baseball games."

Meggs left Chico State as the winningest head coach in program history with an overall record of 538–228–4. He was recently overtaken by current Chico State baseball coach and one of Meggs' assistant coaches Dave Taylor, who now has 590 wins since taking over in 2007.

"It's a great honor to have left there and had that record, but I'm happy it was broken by Dave Taylor and I'm happy they're having success and that's important to me," Meggs said. "He deserves the recognition and has put the time in, and I think it's appropriate. I think nothing but positive thoughts for him and Chico State."

Before Meggs was done he took time to thank his administration at Chico State, specifically athletic director Don Bady and former coach Puck Smith, as well as former football coach Gary Houser.

"When you're talking about things you need to win or for it to be a great experience for the kids you were talking to someone who had coached and that were keys to the success we had," Meggs said.

Always a family man

While Meggs considers himself "retired," he has not left the baseball diamond yet. After coaching over 26 seasons at the college level at De Anza (assistant), Cal Lutheran (assistant), Oxnard, Long Beach City College, Chico State, Indiana State, Washington and Hawaii (assistant) Meggs says he is done coaching college athletes, but he is now an assistant on his son Joe Meggs' coaching staff at North Thurston High School in Washington.

"The college level is a done deal, but this is the most fun I've ever had on a baseball field," Meggs said. "It's because I'm coaching with my son. If it wasn't my son I wouldn't be out there, but this is a once in a lifetime opportunity."

Meggs also spends his time away from the diamond watching his other son Jack Meggs, an associate head coach at St. Mary's College of California. Meggs' daughter Kelly Meggs is a physical therapist at Stanford. Having all of his children involved in athletics is something Meggs is proud of.

"It makes me feel good that even though that profession can be tough on your family - it can be tough on your wife, it can be tough on your kids - the fact that my wife was so determined to make Chico State baseball, University of Washington baseball, Indiana State baseball she was so determined to make that a part of our lives as a family," Meggs said. "All three were so involved and it was such a family thing, and that's just reinforced that my kids had such a good experience and that's what they wanted to do. They wanted to go on and coach, so that makes me feel good and makes me feel like my wife and I did it right."

Banquet tickets

The 51st Chico Sports Hall of Fame and Senior Athletes Banquet will be held May 18 at Manzanita Place at the Chico Elks Lodge. Doors open at 6 p.m., and ceremonies and dinner will begin at 7 p.m. Tickets for the event go on sale beginning at 10 a.m. Tuesday, April 21 and run through Thursday, May 14. Tickets can be purchased at the Chico Enterprise-Record office, located at 3881 Benatar Way, Suite G, Chico, CA 95928.

Ticket pricing is $70 per ticket and tickets will not be sold at the door or online. Seating is general seating, however if you/athletes/family or friends would like to purchase tickets you may purchase in a group of 8. This can include presenters for senior athletes, Hall of Fame inductees or senior athletes. Payment is cash or check only.

Tickets sales are Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m., with extended hours on Tuesday until 6 p.m. New this year, ticket sales are also available on Saturday and Sunday from 10:30 a.m. until 3:30 p.m.

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