How many coaches do you know who walk with a smile, are immensely respected by their peers and have no apparent enemies?
This applies to Stan Bledsoe.
But the coaching fraternity in the Valley is frightened with the news that Bledsoe, the retired Clovis West baseball coach, is fighting for his life at Fresno's Saint Agnes Medical Center after a Thursday heart attack.
Bledsoe won 443 games in a 31-year career at Madera, Roosevelt and Clovis West, where he stepped down after the 2002 season. He has a wife and three daughters.
Bledsoe played for Pete Beiden at Fresno State from 1962-63.
I met Stan when I arrived at FSU in 1963. I just received a newsletter from SAE to find that we had lost Stan. I could not believe it for he was so physically fit. He was a true role model to me as I am shure he was to his players. He will definitely be missed.
Art Keogh
Danville CA