By PAUL GOTHAM
Steve Nichols, who helped Monroe Community College Baseball to a pair of regional titles and still holds three program marks as well as one national record, passed away tragically in a car accident near his home in Nokomis, Florida. He was 72 years old.
A member of the Monroe Community College Athletics’ Hall of Fame as well as the Section V Baseball Hall, Nichols set the MCC single-season strikeout record (123) along with the mark for career wins (17) and strike outs in a nine-inning game (24). His 24 strike outs in a single game is a National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) record that still stands today.
“He was an awesome left-handed pitcher,” said legendary MCC head coach Dave Chamberlain who is also enshrined in the MCC Hall as well as the NJCAA Hall of Fame. “He’d do anything you asked him to do and worked hard all the time.”
Standing at 6-foot-4, Nichols dominated on the mound. The southpaw took a 7-1 record and an ERA of 0.30 into the post-season of his freshman season. He hurled a one-hitter in the regular season finale before helping the Tribunes to the regional championship with wins over Johnson & Wales of Providence and Hudson Valley Community College.
“When he pitched, there were two things on my mind,” recalled Ralph Clapp who was the starting shortstop for MCC’s ’69 and ’70 teams. “We always had a great chance to win the game, but secondly, as an infielder, I knew I wasn’t going to get much action that day.
“If somebody did get on base, he would pick them off anyway. Steve had one of the best pickoff moves I have ever seen.”
A two-time All-Region 3 selection, Nichols was named an NJCAA All-American following his sophomore season.
GoFundMe Page to help Bonnie Nichols with Medical Expenses
“He was a stud, no doubt about it,” said Jim Carli who started at third base in ’69 and ’70. “We had a lot of All-County and All-City Catholic performers on those teams. Once we stepped on to the field with Steve pitching especially, we knew no one was going to beat us. Steve was the man.”
Nichols and fellow lefty Dennis Fitzpatrick were a one-two punch at the top of the MCC rotation combining for a 15-1 regular season record in 1969.
“With those two guys, we had a pitching staff that could challenge any team,” said Chamberlain who referred to Nichols as a “building block” of the Tribune program.
Nichols continued his career at Jacksonville University where he set single-season program records for innings pitched (139.2) and strike outs (117), marks that still rank in the top five in Jacksonville history.
“It was an exciting time for the program,” Chamberlain said of Nichols signing with the Division I school. “He was the first guy to really have the Division I coach come from Florida to Rochester to sign his commitment. That was big for us in those days.”
Nichols continued his winning ways at Jacksonville. Under then-head coach Barry Myers, the southpaw was part of a Dolphins’ squad that went 63-28 over two seasons and reached the Gastonia, North Carolina Regional in 1972. Nichols won 22 games in his two seasons at Jacksonville – a mark that still ranks fourth all-time in program history.
The Cincinnati Reds selected the former Gates Chili Spartan in the 29th round of the 1972 Major League Baseball Draft. He was one of 20 Tribunes to be selected in the MLB Draft during the 1970s.
Nichols pitched three years in the Reds’ system before moving into a front-office position as Assistant General Manager with the Jacksonville Suns of the Class AA Southern League.
Prior to his arrival at MCC, the Tribunes finished with a losing record in 1968 – the last season under Chamberlain in which the Black and Gold didn’t finish with more wins than losses. Six years later, MCC Baseball made its first of three NJCAA World Series appearances in four years.
“That was the beginning of the real Tribune tradition,” said fellow MCC Hall-of-Fame member Skip Bailey. “That’s when I started watching and following MCC Baseball during that Steve Nichols-era.”
Bailey, also a member of the NJCAA Hall of Fame, was a part of the program as a player, assistant coach and eventually head coach. He spent four-plus decades in the MCC dugout.
“MCC Baseball at that time started to develop and get on the map. Steve Nichols was a big part of that. When I got there in 1975, MCC Baseball was feared. We were the program, and to think how quickly that developed was certainly because of the character and the talent of people like Steve.”
Monroe has since made 10 World Series appearances, three under current head coach, Dave Brust.
“He obviously is a monumental piece of the MCC Baseball history,” Brust said of Nichols. “He’s one of the bigger talents that have ever come through here. You just hear about what an incredible player he was. One of the greatest players in our history.”
MCC celebrated its 1969 and 1989 teams with the 50th and 30th anniversaries of those two landmark squads.
“Steve being in Florida, we didn’t see him too much,” Clapp said recalling the dinner and ceremony in the summer of 2019. “But any time we’d get together, it was like stepping right back into the locker room in 1970. That’s how close the team was. It meant a lot to us. Those were some of the best years.
“He was a great team player, personality-wise. Even though he was the best pitcher on the team, everybody gravitated to him because of his personality. He was just one of the boys.”
Nichols was enshrined in the MCC Hall of Fame in 1984.
“That’s the amazing thing, all the pitchers that Coach Chamberlain had and who have come through the program and Steve is still in the record book,” Clapp said referring to former Tribunes like Greg Keagle and Tim Redding who went on to pitch in the major leagues along with Ken Lelek who was drafted on three different occasions as well as recent hurlers like Patrick Urckfitz who spent nine years in Minor League Baseball and Zachary Vennaro currently in the Milwaukee Brewers’ system.
“He always wanted the ball. Pitch count wasn’t a big thing back then, so he pitched a lot of complete games. He never shied away from taking the ball and staying in the game.”
Nichols threw two no-hitters in his senior season at Gates Chili. He was inducted with 2013 Section V Baseball Hall of Fame class.
A GoFundMe Page has been established for Steve’s wife, Bonnie who survived the car crash but is paralyzed from the waist down as a result of the accident.
“The way that it happened was a shock to all of us,” Clapp said. “He was a great friend to all of his teammates, and he will be missed greatly.”
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