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Funeral set for Hall of Fame coach, athlete

A funeral will be conducted for retired teacher and Greenwave athlete Jack Beach, 71, on Wednesday. Beach died unexpectedly last week. He umpired a baseball game in late April 2021 against Elko.

A funeral will be conducted for retired teacher and Greenwave athlete Jack Beach, 71, on Wednesday. Beach died unexpectedly last week. He umpired a baseball game in late April 2021 against Elko.
Photo by Steve Ranson.

By Steve Ranson

Wednesday, June 23, 2021

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A Nevada Hall of Fame athlete and coach who was part of the Greenwave’s championship teams of the late 1960s and ’70s died June 15 after a short illness.

Services for Jack Beach, 71, will be held at Parkside Bible Fellowship on Wednesday at 11 a.m. and will be live streamed at https://www.parksidebible.com/livestream for those who cannot attend in person.

Beach was a three-sport athlete who graduated from Churchill County High School in 1968. He served in a number of coaching positions ranging from assistant football coach under the legendary Tony Klenakis and then head baseball coach in the late 1970s, athletic director from 1980-1989, head football coach in 1993 and 1994, girls golf coach and girls softball coach in the early 2000s. He led the baseball team to two state titles and was named Coach of the Year in 1978. Beach also officiated high-school athletic games, particularly baseball and softball, and was president of the Northern Nevada Softball Officiating Association for two years.

Beach taught math at Churchill County High School before retiring in 2003, and then he taught and became principal at Logos Christian Academy until 2017.

The Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association inducted Beach into the Hall of Fame in 2010. Beach was also inducted in 2018 into the Greenwave Hall of Fame, where he was also a founding member.

“He had an amazing knowledge of so many great Fallon athletes,” said Steve Heck, president of the Greenwave Hall of Fame. “He was humble about his own career, while singing the praises of others. When you talked to him about sports in Fallon, you could feel his love for the community and his pride in seeing others succeed.”

Heck said Beach “made things happen” and it showed through his love of Fallon and the Greenwave. At the time of his death, the Greenwave committee was reviewing nominations for the 2021 Hall of Fame.

“I always saw Jack as the calm, cool and collected one,” said Judy Pratt, a retired principal. “Nothing seemed to rattle or excite him. He was very much the opposite of me, but it worked for the nine years I served under him as assistant athletic director and currently our time on the Greenwave Hall of Fame Board together.”

After graduating from CCHS, Beach attended the University of Nevada before transferring to the University of Montana Western in Dillon. His first teaching job was at White Pine High School in Ely.

The Lahontan Valley News invites former teammates, athletes and students to comment on Beach’s career in the classroom and/or on the field. Message the LVN on its Facebook page.

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