JIM MCILWAIN

Steve Virgen

Jim McIlwain’s title is vice president of administrative services for

Orange Coast College, but that does not describe the totality of a

man who has spent the past 39 years working for the Pirates.

At OCC, many people know him as friend, a loyal man whose

dedication has set a high standard at the community college in Costa

Mesa.

McIlwain, who is 67, could also be known as a pioneer.

He founded OCC’s exercise science laboratory program, which does

fitness testing, and he was also instrumental, to say the least, in

developing the school’s all-weather track facility. Now, he’s working

as an administrator.

He knows his time at OCC is winding down. As he looks back at his

time with the Pirates, administrative work has been but one chapter

of his OCC story.

“I never thought I would be in administration,” said McIlwain, who

has been working in his position since 1989. “The only reason I got

into education was to be a track coach. I was running track at

Anaheim High, then went on to Fullerton College and to UC Santa

Barbara. I went to the Army and I thought the only thing I wanted to

be was a track coach.”

McIlwain started his career as the head track and field coach at

El Rancho High in Pico Rivera in 1962. Then, in 1965, he signed on at

Coast as an assistant coach for track and field and cross country.

“I was the first assistant track coach at OCC,” he said. “I was

the assistant to Ernie Bullard. He left after one year and went to

Mesa Community College in Arizona. Then he went to San Jose State and

then to USC.”

When Bullard left, McIlwain became the head track coach, a

position he held through 1978. He also coached the cross country

program through 1979.

From there, McIlwain worked with the exercise science laboratory

program he started, until 1987, when he became the OCC athletic

director and dean of the physical education department. He was the

A.D. for two years before assuming his current position.

“My first year, when I came in with Ernie, we won the conference

championship. That was the first in the school’s history and that was

fun,” McIlwain said of his many highlights with the Pirates. “I’ve

had a couple of athletes who went on to be coaches. Charlie Appell

[now coaching track and field and cross country at Estancia], was on

that championship team. Jack Malloy, a coach at Diamond Bar, was

second in the state in the 800 [meters]. It was fun to work with

those people.”

McIlwain also said he took pride in helping start the women’s

programs at OCC back in the early 1970s.

“Mt. [San Antonio College] had the first [women’s track and field]

team and we said we couldn’t let them get ahead of us,” he said. “We

were the second college to have women and we were very proud of that.

To this day, our women’s programs have been strong and I think it has

been because we started out that way. We tried to set the tone. I’ve

been proud of that.”

Of his many career accomplishments and memories, he is, perhaps,

most pleased with his long-standing association with those who work

at OCC, as well as the students who pass through.

“The nicest thing is the focus on being a student-centered

institution,” he said. “We are very informal. We are not caught up

with protocol or rigidness. It is a very friendly place. I always

wanted to be here and wanted to help out without the pomp and

circumstance. We always seem to have the best interest of the

students in mind.”

McIwain, who lives in Mission Viejo with his wife, Ann, is the

latest honoree of the Daily Pilot Sports Hall of Fame. They have one

son, John, a daughter, Susan, and two grandchildren, Clay and Ty.