Longtime Tri-City sports figure CJ Mitchell dies

The Tri-Cities lost a legend Sunday.

CJ Mitchell, a long-time Tri-Citian who was well-known in the sports community in the Northwest and sometimes nationally, passed away in Richland after battling a long illness. He was 84.

Mitchell leaves behind a legacy that few could or ever match.

He was involved in the local sports community for well over 50 years — many as a sports official, coach and player, but also as a fan watching Tri-City events, even if none of his five sons, one daughter or 25 grandchildren and great-grandchildren was playing.

But while sports were a big part of his life, he was equally involved in the community.

His 59 years working at the Hanford area — first for the General Electric Company and then for the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory — gave him a passion for helping preserve Hanford’s history. For a number of years, he was a B Reactor tour guide.

At one time, CJ was president of the African American Community, Cultural & Educational Society, an organization he co-founded. He spent time collecting information and doing oral histories with blacks who had come to Hanford looking for work during the Manhattan Project years and later.

He also was a chairman of the Richland Human Rights Review Board, a trustee at Columbia Basin College, a member of the Kadlec Medical Center board of directors and an active member of the Richland Kiwanis Club for 42 years.

CBC honored him with a Facebook post Monday, stating: “CJ was selected as the 1997 CBC Outstanding Alumnus and awarded the Martin Luther King Jr. Spirit Award in 1998. But the most important trait of CJ Mitchell — everyone he met was a friend.”

His daughter, Vanessa Moore, said her father was always a go-getter.

“While we were growing up, I remember my dad always working hard or busy taking classes, or learning a new skill that could help generate extra income,” said Moore. “Dad was like a hyper little kid, with a very positive outlook on life.”

Mitchell’s biggest mark came in sports. He officiated baseball, basketball and football for years.

But he was best known for his baseball work.

For 35 years, he worked Pac-8 (then Pac-10) games, mostly in Pullman.

The late Chuck “Bobo” Brayton, the legendary coach at Washington State University, first took notice of Mitchell in 1967, when the coach came down to CBC to scout a player he was recruiting.

Brayton liked what he saw and had the Tri-Citian working a lot of the Cougars’ games from then on.

“Mitch was always there when we needed him,” said Brayton in a 1999 Herald interview. “He worked hard at the game. He was a great showman, but he was also very good.”

Yes, he was, documented by the fact he worked four NCAA Division I College World Series in Omaha, Neb.

He also worked 10 NAIA World Series tournaments, six American Legion World Series tournaments, and was an umpire for exhibition games played by the U.S. Olympic baseball team in 1984 and 1988.

He is a member of at least six sports halls of fame: the Washington State High School Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame (as an umpire), Amateur Baseball Association Hall of Fame, Amateur Baseball Umpires Association Hall of Fame, Central Washington Sports Hall of Fame, Washington State American Legion Baseball Hall of Fame and the CBC Sports Hall of Fame.

The Central Washington Sports Hall of Fame, with its showcases displayed throughout the Toyota Center in Kennewick, was co-founded by Mitchell with a number of others. It was a dream of Mitchell’s to honor the athletes, coaches and officials in the Mid-Columbia.

“CJ was an incredible promoter and didn’t hesitate to use his own resources,” said Don Hart, a co-founder of the hall and a long-time football official. “We regularly had a group of high school seniors who were the best of the best across all sports. For the first couple of years, he sponsored them to the induction banquet to be recognized.

“CJ was incredibly connected in the sports world and when coaches like Don Monson and Jud Heathcote showed up to honor inductees, and Bobo Brayton was honored to go in, I could see the quiet behind-the-scenes activity of my friend,” Hart continued. “And he made them feel comfortable when they came.”

Mitchell almost left the Tri-Cities in 1972.

“I had an opportunity in 1972 with the umpires program in Vero Beach, Fla.,” Mitchell told the Herald back in 1999. “The Dodgers selected 44 guys from around the country to go through the system, and I was one. Eddie Taylor, a Yankees scout from around here, told me not to do it. He said ‘Mitch, you don’t want that lifestyle. You’ve got a good job. You’ve got a good family.’ I never regretted not going.”

So he stayed.

And when it came down to it, the most important thing to him was always his family.

“Dad loved living,” said Vanessa Moore. “As we became adults and were raising our own families, Dad would often tell me how proud he was of us and that blessed me.”

“I’m most proud of my family,” said Mitchell in that 1999 interview. “I feel like the richest man in the world. And to be able to be a part of this community had been wonderful.”

He and his wife Bernice, who died last year, had six children, Vanessa and five sons, David “Duke,” Greg, Nestor, Cameron and Robin.

His memorial service is Feb. 13 at Faith Assembly Christian Center in Pasco.

This story was originally published January 25, 2016 at 5:04 PM with the headline "Longtime Tri-City sports figure CJ Mitchell dies."