Bio

William "Bill" Arce was founding director of the CMS athletics program. Arce served as head coach of the baseball team from 1958 to 1979, compiling a record of 443-354-16 and leading the Stags to SCIAC championships in 1970, 1971, and 1975. He was named the NAIA Area 1 Baseball Coach of the Year in 1971, and the NCAA Division III District 8 Coach of the Year in 1978 and 1979. Arce was inducted into the NAIA Hall of Fame in 1976. In 2000, he was awarded the Lefty Gomez Award by the American Baseball Coaches Association. After retiring, Arce worked on developing baseball internationally. He was the first American baseball coach to have provided baseball instruction in Sweden (1962), Czechoslovakia (1969), Yugoslavia (1979), and the People's Republic of China (1980). Arce also coached the national teams of the Netherlands (1971) and Italy (1975) to the European Baseball Championship. Arce was also on the coaching staff for the U.S. national teams in 1970, 1976, and 1978. Claremont McKenna College named the College's baseball field in his honor in 1984.