‘He built it all.’ Legendary baseball coach Bob Wynn, who built SCF, passes away
The first sign sits next to the sidewalk bordering 34th Street West, in the main entrance to State College of Florida’s baseball and softball complex.
The other sign is right on the brick column by the entry gate to the baseball field.
Both read, “Robert C. Wynn Field.”
It’s in honor of Bob Wynn, affectionately known as “Skip,” who built SCF’s athletic program from scratch in the late 1950s and was the program’s longtime baseball coach.
On Friday, June 25, Wynn passed away at the age of 89 after complications with an infection.
“He had an infection that just didn’t go away,” said Kelly Wynn Woodland, one of Bob Wynn’s two daughters.
Wynn was more than an athletic director.
More than a baseball coach.
He was a husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, teacher, leader and character builder.
Wynn was from a small town, Woodland, northwest of Columbus, Ga. His baseball career led him to Florida State University, where he played and then coached the freshman team before an opportunity in Bradenton popped up.
There wasn’t an athletic program at the then-Manatee Junior College.
The fields currently in use didn’t exist at the time.
But Wynn had a vision of what it could be, so he signed a contract and got to work.
And putting in the work, coincidentally, went along with one of the sayings that stuck with Nick Cafaro, who played for Wynn in 1963-64 after his high school career at Sarasota’s Cardinal Mooney.
“I heard him say this several times, ‘It’s a great day to work,’” Cafaro said. “You weren’t out there just to throw a ball or just to be out there and go through a practice. He always had you working on something.”
Wynn is often associated with SCF’s baseball program, where he amassed 582 wins and seven state titles in 23 years as the head coach. He later was inducted into the National Junior College Athletic Association Hall of Fame in 1988.
Wynn helped 125 players advance to four-year schools and 63 of his players were drafted to the pros following their Bradenton junior college careers.
“He was really good at emphasizing fundamentals, and his practices were geared towards fundamentals,” Cafaro said. “He just had a real simple way of creating really good ballplayers.”
But Wynn, who retired from the then-Manatee Community College faculty after 35 years in 1993, was more than just a baseball coach.
He was a devout Christian, who had the foresight into what the entire athletic program at the then-MJC could become.
“Without him, we don’t have any of this,” SCF athletic director Matt Ennis said. “He built it all. … He was such a proponent of women’s sports and many other sports that we have, and he was the physical education department chair. Gosh, I just think everything that we get to experience now is because of the vision that he had.”
Wynn’s work ethic, spiritual and personal ethical approach impacted countless in Manatee County and beyond.
“He taught me how to see what the strengths of a person or a group of people are,” Wynn Woodland said. “That’s one of the things he always led with.”
Wynn Woodland said her father would first notice the positive aspects of a person or group, because that’s what you get to work with.
She also said her father was self-confident and was sensitive to other people’s needs.
That translated to his coaching.
And later, as his time leading the baseball team was ending, Wynn gave the program he built to a successor that displayed similar high morals and character traits: Tim Hill.
“This program is pretty special and Coach Wynn’s not going to turn over the keys to that to just anybody,” Tim Hill II said. “I felt the same way when my dad stepped down. It’s a special place … it goes beyond baseball.”
Hill II is SCF’s current and third-ever coach since Wynn began the program in the late 1950s. Hill II said Wynn could talk to you about hitting, when it came to baseball, forever.
“I know my dad said this program isn’t going to slip on his watch,” Hill II said. “And that was what drove him. I feel I have the same philosophy and it all goes back to Coach Wynn and what he started. Not just the wins and the championships, but how you live your life and how you treat people, and the relationships you have with them.”
Wynn is survived by his three children, Kelly, Ronnie and Stacey, five grandchildren and one great-grandson.
Wynn Woodland said the family, college and athletic program are working to have a public memorial service to honor her father at a yet to be determined date and time.
This story was originally published July 2, 2021 at 6:34 PM.
