Associate Principal Jase Turner was among five honorees inducted into the Pomona-Pitzer Athletics Hall of Fame at a dinner held on the Pomona College campus on March 9.
“It’s an amazing honor to be celebrated and recognized for my efforts in the game of baseball, something I am so passionate about,” Turner said.
A 2005 graduate of Pomona College, Turner was a four-year member of the Pomona-Pitzer baseball team who left an indelible mark on the school’s record book.
“It was great. I got to play the game that I loved.”
Turner is currently third all-time in career home runs with 50, third all-time in runs batted in with 189, sixth all-time in career batting average at .383, eighth all-time in hits with 222 and eighth in runs scored with 166. He is also fifth for single season home runs with 17 in 2002, ninth in single season RBI’s with 56 in 2002 and 10th in runs scored with 52 in 2002.
During his freshman season, Turner helped his team to a SCIAC Championship where the Sagehens went 36-7 overall and a perfect 18-0 in conference play. He earned All-American honors, All-West Region, and All-SCIAC while tying the single-season home run record at the time with 17.
Over the course of his collegiate career, Turner earned All-American honors, a three-time All-West selection, three-time All-SCIAC selection, two-time SCIAC Champion, two-time team captain and a two-time team Offensive Player of the Year award recipient.
Though Turner was drafted out of Skyline High School to the Pittsburgh Pirates, he opted for college. He was drafted by the Kansas City Royals during his senior year of college, and spent three years in the Royals’ minor league system with the Idaho Falls Chukars and the Burlington Bees teams.
“It was great. I got to play the game that I loved,” he said. “And I met some amazing players who were from all over the United States and parts of Latin America.”
When he got released from the Royals, he opted not to pursue playing in the Independent League. “I had other aspirations. I took being a student-athlete pretty seriously and made sure I did well in school so that I had viable options once baseball was over.”
Turner had worked as a substitute teacher during the offseason in baseball, which led to his first job in education at Redwood Day School, where he served as a middle school P.E. teacher, advisor and Dean of Students.
Turner came to O’Dowd in 2011 and served as the school’s Academic Support Coordinator and Director of Academic Support before assuming the role of Assistant, then Associate Principal.
He continues to remain involved in baseball, serving as a practice coach and trainer for nationally-ranked travel ball teams in the Lamorinda baseball organization.
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