Former UH Coach Bragg Stockton Passes Away
1/21/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Jan. 21, 2003
Dr. Bragg Stockton, who was the head baseball coach at the University of Houston for eight seasons (1987-94), passed away today at his home in Pasadena. Stockton was 64 years old.
According to his son Russell, who is the head baseball coach at Texas A&M University-Kingsville, Stockton experienced chest pains earlier in the afternoon after his normal workout. He died at his home around 2 pm. Funeral arrangements are pending.
Stockton is survived by his wife, Judy, daughters Rebecca, Rachelle and Rosemary, the aforementioned son, Russell, as well as 12 grandchildren.
UH head coach Rayner Noble is devastated by Stockton's departure.
"He was a pioneer in this area in developing baseball," commented Noble. "He was truly passionate about the game of baseball, and he passed that passion on to those around him. It was his life and he influenced many people, including myself.
"This is a tremendous blow to where we want to take this program. My heart goes out to Russell, Judy and the rest of his children and grandchildren. He will be sorely missed."
The elder Stockton was set to begin his second season as a volunteer coach for the nationally-ranked Cougar baseball program, where he was to tutor the UH pitchers for another year. Stockton was no stranger to UH baseball fans, after having amassed 283 wins and leading the Cougars to two NCAA Regional berths during his tenure as head coach. In addition, 80 of his former players have played on some level of professional baseball and more than 25 former players have served as head coaches on the high school, junior college and NCAA levels.
Last season, Stockton guided the Cougar pitching staff to one of the finest seasons in school history. Cougar hurlers set a new school record with 548 strikeouts and posted the second-highest mark in Conference USA history. UH also finished fifth nationally with a 3.20 team ERA, as five regular Cougar pitchers posted ERAs under 3.00 and seven finished under 4.00.
Stockton first emerged as a successful coach at Jesse H. Jones High School in Houston, as his teams won four district titles from 1965 to 1969. In 1970, he took over the head duties at San Jacinto Junior College and led his teams to eight conference championships, five Region 14 titles and three trips to the National Junior College World Series through 11 seasons. His teams went 424-112 over that span, and Stockton earned District Junior College Coach of the Year honors three times.
Stockton left San Jacinto in 1980 when he was named assistant coach at UH. He helped guide the Cougars to a 117-49-3 record, including a trip to the NCAA West Regional in 1982. Following the 1983 season, Stockton was named head coach at TCU. He led the Horned Frogs to a 91-68 mark in three seasons.
Stockton ran a highly successful "Skills and Drills" summer baseball camp throughout Harris County, which taught fundamentals of the game to more than 10,000 players. He also wrote three books and served as the instructional clinician at the American Baseball Coaches Association, the Texas High School Coaches Association and the Louisiana Baseball Coaches Convention.
A junior college All-America basketball star at Tarleton State in Stephenville, Stockton continued to play baseball and basketball after enrolling at Sul Ross State in Alpine. He earned his bachelor's and master's degrees from Sul Ross in 1960 and 1962, respectively, and he received a PhD in education from the University of Houston in 1977.