Jim Willis, who pitched for two seasons with the Chicago Cubs, died Friday at age 98. He was the fourth-oldest living Major League Baseball player at the time of his death.
Willis went 2-2 with a 3.39 ERA in 27 games (four starts) for the Cubs across the 1953 and 1954 seasons.
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A native of Doyline, Louisiana, Willis played basketball and baseball at Northwestern State University. He was the first player from the NAIA school to reach the majors. Six others — including Hall of Fame pitcher Lee Smith, who also played basketball in college — would follow in his footsteps.
Willis enlisted in the Army when he turned 18 in March 1945, but World War II ended with the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki while he was in training.
Instead, Willis joined an Army baseball team that entertained troops at bases in Germany and France. One of his teammates in Europe, Bob Rush, eventually became his teammate with the Cubs.
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Willis returned home after the war to attend college. He was part of the 1948-49 Northwestern State basketball team that went 23-5, won the Gulf States Conference championship, and reached the national NAIA Tournament semifinals, defeating BYU in the quarterfinals in Kansas City.
As a pitcher, Willis helped NSU go 12-9 in 1949. The school retired his No. 28 baseball jersey prior to the 2009 season.
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“Being around him and seeing him from time to time at different alumni functions, you could tell he was very well respected, and that was pretty special,” former Northwestern State basketball coach Mike McConathy told the Shreveport Bossier Journal. “You learn a lot by the number of people, when they come back, how they are received by other team members. There was always a lot of respect for him.”
After three minor league stops in Louisiana (Alexandria, Shreveport, Monroe) and one in Texas (Greenville), Willis made his major league debut on April 22, 1953.
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The right-hander went 2-1 with a 3.12 ERA in 13 games as a rookie, one of the better performances on a Cubs team that went 65-89-1. In his second season, the Cubs had no more success under manager Stan Hack, going 64-90. Willis finished the season 0-1 with a 3.91 ERA in 14 games.
After retiring, Willis became a teacher and later the principal of Boyce (La.) High School. He also coached baseball and basketball at the school.
Willis is survived by four children, 10 grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.
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