BH's Bink Grimes

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He is already in the Barbers Hill Hall of Fame

From the Baytown Sun:

ETBU names Grimes to Athletic Hall of Fame

From sports staff reports

Baytown Sun   

Published October 12, 2007

Bink Grimes became a member of East Texas Baptist University’s baseball program in 1994 because of a dream, literally.

And that dream has culminated with Grimes, now an assistant baseball coach at Bay City High School, being enshrined in ETBU’s Tiger Athletic Hall of Fame last month.

Grimes, who starred at Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu, back in the early 1990s, was part of a class of four inducted into the Hall of Fame in induction ceremonies on Sept. 29.

Grimes’ career at ETBU spanned just two years on the field as a player, in 1994 and 1995, but his name remains a staple in the Tiger record books.

Following the 1994 season, Grimes was named NAIA All-Region on a Tiger team that finished with the most wins in program history (39) and fell just one game shy of advancing to the NAIA World Series.

The following season as a senior, Grimes was an All-American for the Tigers. He graduated in 1995 and was an assistant coach and sports information director at ETBU from 1995-98 after a stint in professional baseball.

He left Marshall in 1998 to become assistant coach at Bay City, where he’s been with the Blackcats since.

All of it began with a dream, of almost Biblical proportions. Drafted by the New York Yankees out of Barbers Hill in 1990, Grimes chose to sign with Sam Houston State University. By 1993, he’d decided to transfer, and he was seriously looking for a place to continue his career.

His choice came down to Baylor, Liberty, Dallas Baptist or ETBU. Grimes visited all those places and was torn about the decision. But one night back home, he thought of Daniel in the Old Testament and placed a special prayer for guidance.

“I asked God specifically to reveal (the decision) to me in a dream,†Grimes remembers. “I figured if it was good enough for men like Daniel, you know …

“Anyway, that night I dreamed I was at the plate in an ETBU uniform. I’d never seen an ETBU uniform before, either, but there I was. I got up the next morning and told my parents I was going to ETBU, and the rest is history.â€

Grimes’ signing was a boon for the Tigers and head coach Jim Kneipp, who went on to become the program’s all-time leader in coaching wins. It also turned out to be the perfect decision for Grimes, who credits his opportunity at ETBU with allowing him to turn his career around.

Grimes hit 11 home runs his junior season and set a team single-season record for RBI. He followed that with another 10 homers as a senior – in 15 less games from the previous season due to a series of rainouts.

Grimes also credits his resurgence at ETBU to Kneipp, who he says not only was his coach but became a close friend.

“I had a coach in Kneipp who believed I was the man,†Grimes said. “He made us play with discipline and class, and he gave me a lot of leeway to be the leader I needed to be. He let me play the way I needed to play, jumped me when I needed to be jumped, when most coaches would look the other way concerning the leader of the team. He wasn’t all about baseball; he was a friend, and cared about your spiritual life off the field.â€

Grimes finished his career at ETBU in 1995, hitting .367 with 21 homers and 109 RBI in those two years. He stayed on to help Kneipp as the program’s assistant coach, which also allowed him to finish his Masters of Education at Stephen F. Austin State University as well as meet and marry his wife, the former Shelly Matthes. He and Shelly currently have one daughter, Mallory.

His extended stay in East Texas also provided another opportunity for one of Grimes’ other passions – the outdoors. Already an experienced hunting and fishing guide along the Gulf Coast prior to attending ETBU, Grimes was given his first opportunity to write an outdoors column while in Marshall. He’s been writing ever since, with credits in over two dozen regional and national publications, while chartering hunting and fishing trips.