Former Sun Devils women’s basketball coach Charli Turner Thorne and former baseball manager Bobby Winkles have been named to the Arizona Sports Hall of Fame.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Congratulations to Charli Turner Thorne and Bobby Winkles for being named to the 2023 Arizona Sports Hall of Fame Induction Class!
The inductees will be honored on April 13, 2024. #ForksUp /// #O2V pic.twitter.com/ofvD767FyW
— Arizona State Sun Devils (@TheSunDevils) December 28, 2023
Charli Turner Thorne
Turner Thorne coached Women’s Basketball at Arizona State for 26 years. She finished with an overall 488-294 record and won Pac-12 Coach of the Year twice. She won two Pac-12 championships and one Pac-12 tournament.
Turner Thorne joined the Sun Devils in 1996. It took her five years to reach her first NCAA Tournament, which she did in 2001. From there, she made the tournament 14 of the 21 seasons, including six from 2014-2019. Turner Thorne’s furthest tournament run was in 2007 and 2009 when the team made it to the Elite 8. She became only the fourth Pac-12 coach ever to have five straight 20-win seasons, which she did from 2005-2009.
Turner Thorne would retire from coaching in 2022. However, not for long. She would return to the bench in the desert with the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury, where she now sits as an assistant coach.
Bobby Winkles
Winkles was the first-ever head baseball manager for the Sun Devils from 1959 to 1971. He helped Arizona State start its baseball program. During those 12 years, Winkles led the Sun Devils to their first three College World Series titles in 1965. ’67, and ’69. The legendary skipper left Arizona State with a record of 524-173.
Winkles coached many MLB players, but the most notable was Reggie Jackson, a National Baseball Hall of Famer who played for 21 seasons.
The skipper eventually left ASU to coach in the MLB, where he had little success. However, the impact he left on ASU baseball will always remain.
Both coaches are incredibly important to ASU history, so it’s a great call by the AZ Sports Hall of Fame to induct two of them into their hall.
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