By Doc Leonetti
(Correspondent - The Chronicle News)
Jim Toupal, a basketball coaching marvel for 35 years at Trinidad State Jr. College, will be inducted into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame on April 19, 2016. Five additional members were announced on Tuesday, October 20, 2015. Toupal began his career at TSJC in 1969 as a faculty associate in business, and assistant football and basketball coach. He supplanted Gary Marriott as Head Coach in 1972. Throughout his 35 year career at TSJC, he also coached baseball, golf, and volleyball, and served several years as Athletic Director. Now retired, his record of winning basketball games is legendary.
And his achievements in TSJC basketball are incrementally mind boggling:
*Inducted into the National Jr. College Athletic Association Hall of Fame in March, 1998.
*TSJC Scott's Gym floor named in honor of Toupal, 2008
*inducted into the TSJC Educational Foundation Hall of Fame, 2013
*Fifth winningest record in NJCAA history with a 668-292 record.
*Set a national record with 132 consecutive home victories in the decade of 1980-1990.
*Named Region IX Coach of the Year four times.
*Led his 1986 team to the NJCAA National Tournament, posting a 2-2 record and finishing 7th.
*Finished 4th on the all-time list in NJCAA history with over 1,200 wins.
*Coached 12 NJCAA All-Americans.
"I always felt two of his greatest strengths in coaching were his ability to get kids to play hard and to play together as a team," said Mike Vecchio, long-time coach and teacher at Trinidad High School who assisted Toupal on the basketball court for ten years. "On many road games, when everyone in the arena was against you, he got players to rise up to the challenge by simply playing harder than the home team did. I also saw many a good player benched if he thought the player was being selfish. In my opinion, he was one of the best Jr. College coaches that I've ever seen. This is a great honor for Jim, and I couldn't be happier for him."
Fellow inductees at a ceremony to be held at the Marriott City Center on April 19, 2016 in downtown Denver are: Vinny Castilla, Colorado Rockies baseball, Ralph Simpson, ABA/NBA Nuggets basketball, Milan Hejduk, Colorado Avalanche hockey, Rhonda Blanford-Green, track coach Aurora Central High School, and Jim Danley, Eaton High School baseball.
"I feel fortunate to have worked with him for 12 years," said TSJC Coach Rich Holden who served as Toupal's assistant. "What impressed me most was how he was so successful for all those years against very stiff competition year after year. It's quite an honor. He may be one of the only people at the Jr. College level that has been inducted into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame. I'm really pleased with his recognition, and I'm most appreciative for Pete De Luca for all the work he did to help Coach get into the Hall. It's good that they did hear that voice from Trinidad and were able to understand how hard he worked at that level to do what he did. That's what's really cool about the whole thing. I really felt like it was a perfect tribute to a great career. It was incredible. It will never be duplicated in a lot of places. Coach is quite a guy."
Dick Compton, who served as the Financial Aid Director during the majority of Toupal's tenure as a coach at TSJC, was also grateful for the Colorado Hall of Fame nomination.
"It's well overdue, a well deserved recognition," explained Compton. The former Director, as did this writer, watched Toupal coach his first game in 1973. "Toup brought basketball to the highest level for us. Trinidad has never been a hotbed for professional athletes, yet he worked hard to get them placed at another college where they could be successful. I surely enjoyed watching him working with his kids, many times from the clock in 'Great Scott Gym.'"
A Trinidad native, Toupal was an All-State football and basketball player at Trinidad High School. He was mentored in football by Dutch Nogel, a coach who knew how to win. The fiery John Kilpatrick coached him in basketball, and later, in his retirement, assisted him at Trinidad State. Toupal moved on from Trinidad High to play football for Boston College on a full scholarship, eventually earning a Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting. He and high school sweetheart Nancy Salbato were married in 1968.
"It's a privilege to be inducted into the Colorado Hall of Fame," explained Toupal. "This honor is the result of the endless support I've received from my colleagues and friends over the years. I have a lot of good memories of all the athletes I've coached. A lot of them correspond with me regularly to this day.
"The support I've received from my associates over the years, too, has been very rewarding. The Trinidad community and the TSJC Booster Club over all those years I coached were most essential to my success. They've all helped me get inducted into three hall of fame entities (Trinidad Jr. College Educational Foundation Hall of Fame, NJCAA Basketball Hall of Fame, Colorado Sports Hall of Fame). Most importantly, any success I have experienced must be attributed to my family, especially my wife Nancy who has put up with me and been by my side for 47 years. I could have never accomplished what I did without their support, and they surely gave me a lot of that."
In the decade of 1980-1990, Coach ran the table with a ten year home court winning streak. He chalked up 139 consecutive wins in Scott Gym in that remarkable run. In his storied career, he averaged 22 wins a season for 30 years, and completed his coaching career with 668 wins and 292 losses.
The venerable Coach retired in 2004, but the legend of his accomplishments will linger forever.
"It's been a great run," Toupal concluded. "If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't change a thing. I had several opportunities to move on to other coaching jobs at four year colleges, but I'm happy I chose to stay in Trinidad. I appreciate Tim Simmons, Pete De Luca, and the Colorado Hall of Fame selection committee for what they have done for me. This is truly a great honor."