Donor Spotlight: Jim Fuller

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Part of the DNA of educators, particularly those who coach, is selflessness.

Jim Fuller epitomizes that.

Fuller, a 1965 Central Michigan graduate and former Chippewa baseball player and coach, is a Chippewa Athletic Fund benefactor who gives back to the school and to the program that meant so much to him.

Fuller earned three letters in baseball at CMU from 1963-65, playing alongside the likes of the legendary Dave Keilitz as part of a legion of players who helped to build the program's legacy.

Fuller went on to a 25-year career as a teacher and coach at four Flint-area high schools. He coached football and baseball at every stop, the last 14 years of which were at Durand High School.

"Sports is part of the whole educational system," Fuller said. "You learn many lessons on the athletic field, about teamwork, commitment – you want to get better. You get immediate feedback in athletics.

"You do something wrong, boom you find out about it now. You've got to do it and display it in front of everybody. Your test is taken right in front of people. You've got to handle defeat and setback a lot more in athletics than you do as a general student. I think all of those are valuable life lessons."

Fuller grew up on a family farm in Otisville, northeast of Flint, and attended LakeVille High School. His father was all for Fuller and his brothers playing school sports. If they didn't do that, a daily litany of chores awaited them on the farm.

"My dad said, 'Hey if you want to play sports and you want to be involved, go and play,'" Fuller said. "'But when you're not playing, get home; you've got work to do.'

"I played everything."

After retiring from teaching in 1990, Fuller returned to CMU and served for eight years as an assistant baseball coach under Dean Kreiner. In those eight years, the Chippewas won two Mid-American Conference championships and made three NCAA Tournament appearances.

After leaving CMU for the second time, Fuller worked for 20 years as a sales rep for several sporting-goods manufacturers and he spent summers in Eastern Europe conducting clinics and camps as part of Major League Baseball's International Envoy Program.

Today, he still works as a manufacturer's rep and volunteers as a baseball coach at Venice (Fla.) High School, keeping his hand, and his mind, in the game.

"The older you get, you learn that it's a whole lot more important to be significant in the lives of others, helping others achieve, helping others accomplish something in their life," he said.

He cherishes the time he spent at CMU, both as a student-athlete and as a coach, and he annually returns to his home state in the summer and early fall.

"For me it's really great when I go back to Central because you look forward to seeing guys like Dave Keilitz and Doug VanderWall – guys that I played with and are still involved," he said. "You like to keep the traditions going.

"I call them LFTs -- Looking Forward Tos. You've got to have those in your life. If you don't have LFTs then life is not very meaningful. On a home football Saturday, you get up there and walk through the tailgate just so you can bump into somebody. It's just great to see those people that you went to school with or you coached with; you were all part of the CMU sports family. It's a big part of my life and you like to see that that continues."

No longer is Fuller wearing a Chippewa uniform, but his DNA is as maroon and gold as it ever was.

"I'm not helping now by hitting fungos or throwing batting practice or anything like that, but I can help in other ways," he said.

Related Videos