Sims Inducted into the FACA Hall of Fame

In the banquet room of an Orlando-area hotel last Saturday, Hernando High baseball coach Tim Sims told the audience that Brooksville is a Cadillac.

“And I’m just a hood ornament,” Sims quickly added.

That’s vintage Sims, always trying to deflect attention from himself and project it onto those around him — his former coaches, high school teammates, the players he’s coached and the players he’s still coaching. Always putting Brooksville — its rich sports history and its tight community bond — on the pedestal he passionately believes it deserves.

As he moved on into his speech, Sims borrowed the title of country singer Dylan Scott’s hit song. “This town’s been good to us,” Sims, 61, said.

As Sims was inducted into the Florida Athletic Coaches Hall of Fame, he tried to keep the spotlight on Brooksville. He mentioned the only other four Hernando County coaches in the FACA Hall of Fame — Ernie Chatman (Sims’ high school baseball coach and mentor), Tom Varn, Dub Palmer and John Palmer. All four of them also coached at Hernando High School. Sims also thanked the 39 other people from Brooksville who somehow managed to get into the ceremony despite the fact Sims only was given 25 tickets.

In short, Sims, who is about to start his 32nd season as Hernando’s coach and has won more than 530 games (more than the legendary Chatman and Varn) and guided his team to 16 playoff appearances and 10 district titles, talked about almost everyone but himself.

But, on this special day, those close to Sims couldn’t help but feel that maybe the coach had it backwards. They said maybe it’s Brooksville that has been lucky enough to tag along on the ride that is Sims’ spectacular career and life.

“Tim’s been a star in everything he’s ever done,” said Patrick Skipper, Sims’ friend since childhood and now a teacher and coach at Weeki Wachee High. “But he’s never acted like a star. Tim has always just been a friend to everyone. That’s just his personality. That’s just who he is.”

To understand how that personality evolved, you have to go deep into Brooksville history. Start in the 1970s and 80s when Joe and Sarah Sims were raising Tim and his brother Chad (two years younger than Tim) in the family homestead just a few blocks from Hernando High’s Emerson Field.

Skipper and Chad Sims both used the exact same sentence to describe the Brooksville of that era. “It was a special place,” both said.

Joe Sims, who worked in the family furniture business and as a minister, became coach of a Rotary Club youth baseball team before Tim and Chad were old enough to play. But the boys tagged along and played together on the sidelines.

“As we got older, mom and dad put us into whatever sports we wanted to get into,” Chad Sims said. “And, believe me, we got into every sport. We constantly were playing sports.”

At home, Joe and Sarah constantly preached what they called the principles of success — dreams, commitment, integrity and stability — to their boys. From an early age and in pickup and, later, organized games, it was obvious Tim had an uncommon competitive streak.

“You never wanted to be on the opposite team from Tim,” Skipper said. “He could be ferocious. But, if you were lucky enough to be on his team, you had the best teammate in the world.”

As Sims worked his way through Dixie Youth League Baseball and toward Hernando High, he caught the eye of Chatman, then a young baseball coach at Hernando.

“Our families were incredibly close,” said Linda Chatman, Ernie’s widow. “I worked with Tim’s mom at the bank. I think Ernie saw something special in Tim from the beginning.”

Sims had a truly wonderful athletic and academic career as a student-athlete at Hernando and graduated in 1982. He was an all-state selection in baseball and the FACA District Player of the Year. He also starred in basketball. “Tim was also an excellent student,” Skipper said. “And I’ll probably get in trouble with him for saying this, but he also was in the band. He was a band geek.”

After high school, Sims and Hernando teammate Eddie Looper went to Seminole Community College (now Seminole State College) and played baseball for two years. They didn’t just play the game. They excelled at it.

Sims was drafted by the Montreal Expos, but he and Looper chose to accept scholarships to the University of Alabama (a national powerhouse in baseball) where they roomed together — just like they had at Seminole. For two years, they were Alabama’s double-play combination with Sims at shortstop and Looper at second base.

“Tim chose education,” Chad Sims said. “I think he probably could have made it to the Major Leagues if he set his mind to it and if he was a better hitter. But he always was the smarter one of the two of us and he made the right choice.”

Tim Sims did have a brief stint in the minor leagues after earning a business degree from Alabama. But he got tired of living out of a suitcase and knew when it was time to hang up his glove and spikes and return to Brooksville and begin working in the family furniture business. At about the same time, the seeds of what would become a Hall of Fame coaching career were planted. Sims became an assistant coach at then- Pasco Hernando Community College’s North Campus baseball team. A year later, he became the head coach.

It wasn’t long after that when Chatman invited his star pupil to join his staff as a Hernando assistant.

“I hate to use the word favorite because Ernie loved all the kids that played for him,” Linda Chatman said. “But I don’t think it would be wrong to say Tim was like a son to Ernie. He would be so proud of seeing Tim go into the Hall of Fame.”

When Chatman decided to step aside after the 1993 season, it was obvious to many that Sims was the logical successor and he excelled at the job from the start. Although Sims constantly credits Chatman, those around the Hernando program said it didn’t take long for the Hernando coach to distinguish his style from his mentor.

“When Tim took over, there was an aura about him,” said Bronson Arroyo, a star pitcher on Chatman’s last Hernando team and Sims’ first and later a Major Leaguer with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Boston Red Sox and Cincinnati Reds.

“Growing up in Brooksville, all the young baseball players were in awe of Tim and guys like (former Hernando stars) Mike Walker, Eddie Looper and Harry Timmons. We all knew what they had done at Hernando and at higher levels of baseball beyond that. We were in awe of them, just like we were in awe of Ernie Chatman.

“There was a lot of Ernie Chatman seeded in Tim in the ways they carried themselves. When the program landed on Tim’s plate, Tim carried on the tradition from Ernie.”

But there also were differences. “Tim wasn’t far removed from his playing days and it wasn’t unusual for him to grab the glove, put on the spikes and show you how to do something,” Arroyo said.

Perhaps the biggest difference of all is their approach to strategy. Chatman played what Sims now calls “Ernie Ball” and what baseball people commonly refer to as “small ball.” In short, that’s a heavy reliance on singles, an occasional double, lots of stolen bases and an abundance of bunts. Sims likes to say he prefers triples and home runs and there is some truth to that.

“Yeah, but don’t let Tim fool you,” Chad Sims said. “If he sees that small ball is the best way for him to win, he’ll suddenly decide that Ernie’s ways is not a bad thing and he’ll take that route.”

Through the Sims years, wins have come in a large variety of ways. But there’s one common thread.

“Every year, there are 20 or 30 players,” said Mike Steele a former student manager for just about every Hernando sports team and the father of Mike Steele Jr., who played for Sims before graduating in 2018. “But every year, there is only one Tim Sims. Obviously, the baseball knowledge is a big part of it. But the empathy and the understanding he has for the community and the kids who play for him, well, that’s what carries him to another level.”

And it’s not just the people of Brooksville that have taken notice.

“When Tim’s name came up for the Hall of Fame ballot, I said, ‘Wait, Tim’s not already in the Hall of Fame?'” said FACA board member and former Inverness-Citrus High football coach and athletic director Larry Bishop. “I mean, I just kind of assumed he already was in. He’s one of the most respected coaches in the state.”

That respect started growing from the start of Sims’ coaching career. At the end of Arroyo’s senior season at Hernando, he obviously was the best player in the area and a virtual shoe-in for the FACA District Player of the Year which meant an automatic spot in the FACA All-Star game. But neighbor and rival Springstead High also had a great pitcher name Greg Long that year. As the district coaches gathered for the selection meeting, Sims pulled then-Springstead coach Chuck Moehle aside and laid down the kind of sacrifice bunt that appeared to come straight from Chatman’s playbook.

“He told me to nominate Greg for Player of the Year because that was the only way Greg would get into the All-Star Game,” Moehle said. “He told me he wasn’t going to nominate Bronson because Major League scouts requested who they wanted to see in the game and he knew they were going to request Bronson. How many coaches would do that for someone from the opposing team? Tim told me it was the right thing to do.”

That was the start of a long friendship with Moehle that’s rooted in mutual respect. Along the way, Sims has formed strong bonds with coaches like former Tampa Jesuit and Steinbrenner coach John Crumbley, perhaps the most successful coach in Florida High School history. And that respect for others has carried over to the present day.

Although Nature Coast is now Hernando’s biggest baseball rival, Sims and Sharks coach Dan Garofano have a strong friendship. This year, Nature Coast has a pitcher named Jackson Hoyt, who quite possibly will be a high pick in this summer’s Major League Draft. Sims has told Garofano and Hoyt’s father, Rich, that any of Hernando’s resources or relationships in the professional baseball world are available to Jackson.

Sims also is FACA’s chairman for baseball coaches. Sims’ resume and reputation are known throughout the state and beyond. Although he won’t go into detail, Sims admits there have been “multiple” opportunities to leave Hernando for coaching jobs at bigger high schools and at colleges throughout the years.

Yet, he has always declined to move on.

“I’m part of a fifth-generation family business,” Sims said. “I’m part of a great baseball tradition at Hernando. To me, Brooksville is the center of the universe, so why go anywhere else. I got the itch to coach years ago and I’m still scratching that itch and I don’t need any more than that. Some people want to travel and see the world and some people like the routine and want to stay home. I have all I need right here in Brooksville.”