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Davis Enterprise
Obituary: Jim Sochor (Feb. 11, 1938-Nov. 24, 2015)
Special to The Enterprise
Jim Sochor
With his loving family, wife Donna, daughters Terri Johnson and Holly Sochor, son-in-law Rupert Johnson and grandson Dylan Sochor Johnson at his side, Jim died of complications from Multiple Myeloma on Nov. 24, 2015. Â
Jim was born outside Oklahoma City on his parents' farm on Feb. 11, 1938. His parents moved him and his older brother John to San Francisco in 1941 and Jim grew up with the streets, parks and beaches of San Francisco as his playground. He was the first four-letter athlete at Washington High School and is a member of its Athletic Hall of Fame. He attended San Francisco State University, where he met his future wife Donna, and lettered in three sports and later was inducted into their Athletic Hall of Fame.
His senior year he was selected as the Northern California Intercollegiate Back of the Year and nationally as a Little All American Quarterback. He was drafted by the San Diego Chargers, but decided instead to pursue a masters degree at San Francisco State and coach with his coach and mentor Joe Verducci. Jim and Donna were married on October 20, 1963 in Squaw Valley.
In 1965, Jim and Donna moved to the University of Utah where he earned a Doctorate in Education. In 1967, he began his career at UC Davis as an assistant football coach and junior varsity baseball coach. In 1970, he was selected to become the head coach of the football team and over the next nineteen seasons the Aggies won eighteen consecutive conference championships and Jim was selected as Conference Coach of the Year sixteen times.
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Davis Enterprise
Heartfelt remembrance of Sochor pours in
By Bruce GallaudetJim Sochor had the ear of San Francisco 49ers coaching legend Bill Walsh.
He sent Gary Patterson, Paul Hackett, Chris Petersen, Mike Bellotti and Dan Hawkins -- among many others -- on to coaching careers in Division I football.
In 19 seasons at UC Davis as a head coach, Sochor's teams won an NCAA-best 18 straight league championships. He started a winning-season streak that
eventually reached a Division II-record 35 years as disciples Bob Foster and Bob Biggs continued the Aggie Way.
As in demand as Sochor was during his career and in retirement, it seemed he always had time for the next person -- whether it was comparing offensive notes and philosophies with Walsh, Â or chatting with a Davis Little Leaguer who recognized him at one of his favorite morning hangouts.
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Sacramento Bee
The Aggie Way: Jim Sochor remembered as more than a football coach at UC Davis
By Joe DavidsonJim Sochor didn't fit the image of a college football coach in the 1970s, an era big on bluster and profanity. He was the anti-Woody Hayes, the barking, in-your-facemask coach back in the day.
Sochor was a thinker, a schemer who believed that positive reinforcement was the most powerful motivator. Sochor had a zest for teaching, for living, and he mentored people - young and old - until his final days. Sochor, who transformed UC Davis football from a moribund program into a national Division II powerhouse in the 1970s and '80s in his unique style, died Monday night from complications of cancer. He was 77.
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Davis Enterprise column
We know Sochor by one name: 'Coach'
By  Bob Dunning
When Jim Sochor, at age 31, was named head football coach at UC Davis in 1970, few in our community could have imagined what a wild and wonderful
ride he was about to take us on.
Sure, those of us who grew up in Davis and lived and breathed Cal Aggie football remember him as a standout quarterback in the 1950s for powerhouse San Francisco State, which regularly pummeled the Aggies in the long-ago days of the Far Western Conference.
But Sochor, who died Tuesday at the age of 77, quickly established himself as one of the most innovative coaches in the country, regularly putting together game plans that produced winning streaks unprecedented in FWC history.
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Davis Enterprise
Sochor: a great man, a genuine person
By Gerry Scholl
Finally, I had the opportunity to reintroduce myself to the man. It wasn't all that long ago. That last time I met Coach was the first time I had met him when he wasn't the coach anymore.
We were just two grandpas standing along the sideline enjoying the action of a little boys soccer game at Community Park (though he might have been scouting for another Rolf Benirschke). We had a lot in common on that bright, beautiful morning in Central Davis.
Though we didn't really know each other personally, we had some history. Surely, I remembered it much more clearly than The Legend.
It was the years around the turn of the decade from the 1970s into the '80s and coach Jim Sochor and the UC Davis football program were in full stride (the Mike Moroski/Ken O'Brien years). Coach was on his way to greatness; I was a young, part-time sports writer for a local newspaper.
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Napa Valley Register
UC Davis coaching guru Sochor remembered
By Marty James
Doug Gomez felt like he was playing football for the very first time when he transferred after two years at Solano Community College and headed off to UC Davis.
It was 1986 and he was learning about the inner workings, the schemes, the different plays and packages, and the approach to what was a very sophisticated offense when he took the field as a running back for the Aggies, led by their successful head coach, Jim Sochor.
Gomez, a 1983 Vintage High School graduate, called it an "amazing experience" being a part of one of the country's top NCAA Division II programs, one that dominated the Far Western Conference and Northern California Athletic Conference while regularly going to the playoffs.
"It was an unbelievable way to finish off my career, especially being undersized. I was just grateful that I was able to have the opportunity to do it, to play for someone like (Sochor), with his offensive philosophy, his approach, and the way that he coached," said Gomez, who played two years for the Aggies, primarily as a blocking back and on special teams. "He wasn't the in-your-face kind of coach with the way that he taught things. There was no yelling at all. He was quite a guy."
There was a pipeline from the Napa Valley to UC Davis in the 1970s and '80s. The pipeline was rich in talent and experience, feeding the Aggie program with players such as Dave Clerici (Napa), Steve Clerici (Napa), Eric Tye (Napa), Greg Williams (Napa), Bret DelBondio (St. Helena), Kirk Hamilton (Justin-Siena), Andy Ryan (Justin-Siena), Tony Flores (Vintage), Matt Galios (Vintage), Jeff Bridewell (Vintage), Roger Wilkinson (Vintage), Ernie Ilsley (Vintage), Mike Wessel (Vintage), Steve Jones (Vintage), Dave Spinelli (Vintage) and Gomez.
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