Sad news from Arizona today as it was announced that Dick Dickson, who had coached and managed in club softball for 30 years and been associated with the Lil Saints organization for about 26 years, passed away early this morning.

Here’s a post written by Doug Patterson, the current Manager and Assistant Coach to Lance Dickson, the Head Coach and son of Dick Dickson, that was published today on the message board 43FT.com:

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It is with great sadness that I have to write this post. The softball world lost a great man today. Dick Dickson passed away around 2:00 AM from a massive heart attack. Dick had been battling health issues all summer and spent 2 months in the hospital. He was finally out and doing better but the toll that it took on him was just too much.

Dick has been the leader of the Lil Saints organization since the mid 1980’s. He was able to coach 100’s of girls who went on to achieve their dreams as college softball players. Not only was Dick a leader in Arizona softball, he also made his presence known nationally. He was 1 of the original teams that started the Boulder Showcase each summer in CO. Going to Boulder every summer was something that he looked forward to all year. It was liking taking a trip to Disneyland for him. Dick was also instrumental in the development of the 18 Gold program in ASA. While he never won a National Championship, his teams did finish 2nd a few times.

He touched the lives of many players throughout his 30 plus years in the sport. Personally, he has been my mentor since I first joined the organization in 2002. In that 12 years, he taught me many things about the sport, but more importantly, he taught me to care about our girls as people first not just as softball players. That is something that I will take with me as I continue in the sport. I can say first hand that the girls who moved through the organization over the last 12 years loved playing for Dick. Every time that I see an old player, they love to tell stories about things that Dick said or did. He taught them a lot while letting them have fun during the process. My daughter cherished Dick. Even at almost 25, she always ask me how he is doing. She cared deeply about him and was VERY proud to call herself a Lil Saint. She is flying in to Phoenix later tonight for a visit. 1 of the things that she was looking forward to was stopping by his house to say hello and to see how he was. Unfortunately, she will not get that chance. It breaks my heart and I know it will break hers.

Unfortunately, life sometimes brings us sadness. These sad times do give us the opportunity to reflect on the relationships we make throughout life. As I reflect on my time with Dick, I have nothing but great memories. I was proud to call Dick a friend and will miss him greatly. He taught me how to be a coach and mentor. He gave me a love for this game that will follow me throughout my life. This sport allows us coaches to help to guide young girls and to hopefully be a positive influence in their lives. I am a better person because of Dick and I hope to be able to touch someone as much as he touched me.

Please keep Dick’s family, his wonderful wife Carol, his 2 children Casey and Lance and his grandchildren, in your thoughts and prayers.

Doug Patterson
AZ Lil Saints Softball

While typing this, I just received a text from 1 of our current players Dad’s. He sent me a text that his daughter sent him when she heard the news of Dick’s passing. She loved Dick greatly and said “He’s in a great place now with God. He’s not hurting anymore and that’s all that matters”. That says it all. Maybe God needed someone to work on hitting with his Angels. If so, he found a great one!

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On September 16, 2013, I did a team feature on the Lil Saints and spoke to Dick about the history of the organization and the team as it looked heading into 2014.  I remember how cordial and passionate he was about the players and how easy to talk to he was.

Here’s the intro to the player-by-player rundown Dick did on his team, which at the time included three 2015 Pac-12 bound players in infielder Tori Bigelow (Cal), pitcher/infielder T Statman (Arizona) and infielder Morgan Nelson (initially Stanford, now Northwestern).

 

TEAM PROFILE: ARIZONA LIL SAINTS

The Arizona Lil Saints organization out of Phoenix is one of the oldest continuously playing club teams in the country.

The program began 30 years ago and four years after it began Dick Dickson took over.  Just this year he stepped back as the Head Coach to work as the General Manager and turned the keys to the car over to his son, Lance.

“We’re probably one of the oldest three in the nation that have played continuously,” says the elder Dickson.

The Gold team never won a national championship, but came very close in the ‘90’s win the Lil Saints finished second to the OC Batbusters in an ASA Gold championship.  Overall, the program has had eight Top 10 finishes with four coming in the Top 4.

In the three decades since Dickson has been at the helm, the Arizona team has produced some notable alums including:

• UCLA All-American pitcher B’Ann Burns
• Stanford All-American pitcher Becky Blevins
• Oklahoma All-Big 12 infielder Casey Dickson (yes, she’s the coach’s daughter and the player who set a dozen Big 12 records and has gone on to have a long coaching career)
• Notre Dame All-Big East infielder Andrea Bledsoe

This year, Dickson says “we had a good first part of the summer, but hit a low spot with our offense.”

Still, the Lil Saints Gold team finished in the top 10 at the TCS Nationals in Reno, Nev. and made it to PGF Nationals where the team went undefeated in pool play but lost the two elimination games.

Still, the future looks bright in Phoenix (and hot: it was 101 degrees on Monday, according to Coach Dickson!) as the Saints only lost two players to graduation but gained some new talent including a form Lil Saint in Morgan Nelson, who Dickson calls “one of the top middle infielders in the nation” and returns a core group that knows how to win.