Ex-GU baseball coach dies

Former longtime Gonzaga University baseball coach Richard A. (Dick) Busch died Thursday. He was 86.

He served as GU’s baseball coach from 1949-67, according to a university press release, and taught civil engineering at the school from 1946-82.

Busch was named Big Sky Conference coach of the year in 1965 after leading the Bulldogs to a conference title with a 9-3 mark (19-10 overall), just one year after the Bulldogs joined the Big Sky.

Busch built four baseball fields on campus, according to the release, which referred to him the “mastermind” behind Pecarovich Field (later renamed August/ART Stadium). Busch never coached a game there as he returned to the classroom exclusively in 1967, a year before play began there. The Bulldogs are scheduled to start play in a new facility this season.

Busch was inducted into the Gonzaga Athletic Hall of Fame in 1989 and received the Bulldog Club Service Award in 1999.

Busch, born in Uniontown, Wash., was a graduate of West Valley High School in Spokane.

He received a degree in civil engineering from Washington State University and a master’s from the University of Oklahoma.

“He served Gonzaga well both athletically and academically for 36 years,” said athletic director Mike Roth. “He is the type of coach and the type of person we should all strive to emulate. He helped lay the foundation for what we aspire to achieve in the field of competition and in the classroom. Our heartfelt sympathies go out to his wife Lee and the entire family.”

Visitation will be Tuesday from noon-5 p.m. at Hennessey/Smith Funeral Homes and Crematory, 2203 N. Division. Vigil services will be held Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at St. Thomas More Parish, 505 W. St. Thomas More Way with a burial Mass at the parish Wednesday at 11 a.m.