Hall of Fame Spotlight: Jimmy Anderson
October 19, 2015 | Men's Basketball
Jimmy Anderson became part of the Beaver basketball family in 1956, when the Hoquiam, Wash., native transferred to then-Oregon State College for his sophomore season following a standout freshman year at Grays Harbor Junior College in nearby Aberdeen.
He's never really left.
Following his three-year playing career, Anderson coached the freshman team and assistant head coach Slats Gill for three years. He took a two-year break in 1963 and 1964 to coach at Newberg High School, but he returned in 1965, this time for good.
And while his role and responsibilities have changed over the years as he's evolved from player to freshman coach to varsity assistant to head coach to unofficial program ambassador, his love for all things Beavers has never faltered.
No matter the sport, Jimmy truly bleeds orange and black.
Anderson's decades-long contributions to his alma mater will be recognized on Homecoming weekend, Oct. 23-24, with his induction into the Oregon State Athletics Hall of Fame.
“It's a great honor,” Anderson said recently, while watching the 2015-16 Beavers practice from his newest home-away-from-home, the mezzanine level of the Basketball Practice Center.
“After 37 years,” as a student or coach, “this place is pretty much in my blood. It's just a beautiful thought that I will be in the Hall of Fame.”
Few in the long history of OSU athletics can match his resume.
· He won a Pacific Coast Conference championship as a player for Gill in 1958.
· He won a Pacific-8 Conference championship as an assistant coach for Paul Valenti in 1966.
· He earned Pacific-10 Conference title rings as an assistant coach for Ralph Miller in 1980, 1981, 1982 and 1984.
· And he garnered his seventh ring and was Pac-10 Coach of the Year in 1990 when he directed the Beavers to a conference co-championship in his first season as head coach.
All told Anderson was part of 576 wins in his 37 years with the Beavers. Teams he either played for, or coached on, won 17 Far West Classic championships.
He recruited/coached All-Americans Mel Counts, Jim Jarvis, Mark Radford, Steve Johnson, Lester Conner, Charlie Sitton, A.C. Green, Jose Ortiz, Gary Payton and Brent Barry; AAWU all-star Charlie White; Pac-8 all-stars Lonnie Shelton, Rocky Smith and Ricky Lee, and Pac-10 all-stars Ray Blume, Teo Alibegovic and Scott Haskin.
He also was the director of the Varsity O for two years after returning to OSU from Newberg High.
Anderson retired after the 1995-96 season, ending his 37-year association with OSU as a student or employee. Since then he has been an informal ambassador for the men's basketball team under numerous coaches, attending games and practices and connecting with alumni and other fans to further the cause of a program he deeply loves.
The entire 2015 Hall of Fame class will be inducted on Friday, Oct. 23. A reception for this year's honorees will begin at 5:30 p.m. in the Club level of Reser Stadium; dinner and the induction ceremony will follow at 7 p.m.
Anderson and the other inductees – gymnast Heidi Anderson, former football standout Ken Simonton, longtime coach, athletic administrator and faculty member Pat Ingram, former baseball coach Jack Riley, and the 2005 College World Series baseball team – will also be honored during the Oct. 24 football game against Colorado.
The OSU Athletics Hall of Fame was established to honor and preserve the memory of those student-athletes, teams, coaches, and members of the athletic staff who have contributed in an outstanding and positive way to the promotion of OSU's athletic and academic programs.
