2 0 • GCU TODAY
GCU
Alumni
Angel Investor
Tim Salmon enjoys giving back to the game he loves
W
atching Tim Salmon walk around
the baseball field at Scottsdale
Christian Academy is to see
a man totally in his element — leading,
teaching, calmly motivating. His nickname
as a player was “King Fish,” and Salmon does
have a certain regal bearing about him.
But that’s too pretentious a term for such a
Christian man. Dignified is more like it. Yes,
that’s it — dignified.
Salmon’s a coach now, an assistant for the
varsity team of his son, Jacob, after spending
the last two years coaching the junior varsity.
It suits him perfectly. He does the same thing
for a few days every spring when the Los
Angeles Angels, his former team, gather for
spring training. At both places, Salmon makes
a point to counsel the younger players, the
ones who need his encouragement the most.
“It’s a big deal,” said Rich Warnol, the first-
year head coach at Scottsdale Christian, who
is in his 19th year of coaching. “Personally,
I’m learning from him. I think down the road
these kids will understand what they had
here. I’m not sure they know now. I mean, he’s
teaching them the same things the Angels are
doing at spring training.”
Salmon, 45, doesn’t rule out the idea of
coaching at the major-league level someday,
after his children are finished at Scottsdale
Christian. Twins Ryan and Katelyn, both in
eighth grade, are up next, and both are said
to be good athletes. His oldest, Callie, attends
Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego
and is a graduate of Scottsdale Christian.
“It’s a great place to be part of because so
many people care about it so much,” he said.
Salmon has the same sentiments about his
alma mater, Grand Canyon University.
The amazing growth of GCU has caught the
eye of a lot of people, including Salmon and his
wife, Marci.
“We come back to school, look around and
ask ourselves, ‘Gee, are there any classes we
could take?’” he said, half-serious, half-joking,
with a twinkle in his eye.
Current GCU students needed to be
baseball fans at a fairly young age to have seen
Salmon play for the Angels. And most of them
weren’t born yet when he was a college star
from 1987 to 1989. (He still holds the Lopes’
In addition to coaching baseball and doing TVwork for
the Angels, TimSalmon is an organizer and emcee for
“Tales From the Dugout” at GCU.
photo by darryl webb
