BRIGHAM CITY -- His headgear changed through the years, but the victories never diminished.
After averaging 20 wins per season, Jim Fuller has left the field and taken his trademark fedora with him.
The "Silver Fox" retired as the winningest high school softball coach in Utah -- a 423-114 career won-loss record (a .788 winning percentage) -- with six state championships in two classifications.
The 63-year-old Fuller started his coaching career at Box Elder High School in 1990, the first year softball was a Utah High School Activities Association-sanctioned sport. He finished up his final season in May at Fremont, guiding the Silver Wolves to a third-place finish at the state 5-A tournament and a 19-10 record.
Fuller's season record averaged 20-5 spanning 21 years, and he never failed to take the Bees or Silver Wolves to either Holladay's Cottonwood Complex or Taylorsville's Valley Complex for state tournament games.
"I wanted to get out while things were still going good," he said. "I committed to the four seniors -- Meagan Neilson, Kylee Colvin, Karlie Kennedy and Jyl Eckstein -- and they committed to me. They believed in the system at Fremont and in me to finish third at state.
"I'm getting old," he said. "During Haylee Hoch's senior year in 2008, she hit a foul ball down the left-field line and it was all I could do to get out of the way. That planted the seed and told me this was a game for young guys."
Fuller swept five state 4-A titles at Box Elder (1995-97, 1999 and 2001) and won the 2005 5-A championship at Fremont.
He had four second-place showings and three third-place finishes, playing in 10 of 21 state championship softball games.
Fuller won 11 league titles with the Bees, adding three Region 1 titles with the Silver Wolves.
"Dave Hoch and Kim Peterson were phenomenal men and assistant coaches with a state championship team at Box Elder and Fremont," he said. "I got to work with quality people like Keith Colvin and Carey Nichols, who each gave of their time. Then, I had the pleasure of meeting and getting to know Dick Scadden."
Fuller spearheaded the effort to have Fremont's softball field officially named Dick Scadden Field during the 2010 season.
"A big kick for me was when my father, Dennis, moved to Brigham City to be near the grandkids," Fuller said. "He ended up keeping my scorebook and coached the outfielders for six years."
After 14 years at Box Elder, Fuller had 50 players receive either NCAA Division I or NJCAA scholarships.
"It's been a great run and a pleasant one, too, coaching my daughters -- DaNae, Amber and Brittany -- and girls who I consider my daughters," he said. "Those players send me pictures of their kids and keep me updated; it makes an old guy feel good."
Fuller will continue to teach at Fremont, where he has taught AP psychology, sports psychology, psychology and world civilization.
"At the most, I'm looking at five years," he said. "But it's one year at a time."
Kamarie Merrill, who played softball and graduated from Fremont and will teach personal finance and physical education there this fall, is the Silver Wolves new softball coach.
Fuller and his wife, Marilyn, who he says is "My No. 1 fan," have six children -- four girls and two boys -- 16 grandchildren and have been married 41 years.
"Beating Bear River in 1995 for the first state 4-A title was special, and it was Brittany's senior year," he said. "Box Elder was nationally ranked by USA Today in 1996 and 1997. Another kick was having my daughter-in-law, Aimee (Christensen), playing on the 2001 state 4-A championship team as a sophomore (right fielder). Now, she is going to have another one of my grandkids."
Fuller has also been an assistant and head girls basketball coach at Box Elder; the Bees' head boys and girls cross country coach; an assistant wrestling coach at Box Elder; and an assistant boys basketball coach at Fremont in the 2004-05 5-A championship season.
"I always wanted to be considered a good teacher who had an impact on kids," he said. "People may not agree with things I've done, but I hope they would think I was fair and someone who they could talk to."
* Fuller's bucket list: "Finish a treehouse in my backyard for the youngest grandkids. Spend more time with Marilyn doing what she wants to do instead of always being with me while I was coaching. Marilyn has been the best thing that has happened to me."
* Among Fuller's words of wisdom: "I would tell the kids that there's more to life than softball, but when you're between the lines, it better be the most important thing.
"My dream was always to develop a dynasty in basketball and build a solid program," he said. "But it turned out to be a different sport that allowed me to get close to my own daughters and make lifetime friendships with quality people."
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