May 6, 2004 By Jim Kriek For The 4 min read

How many other baseball players can ever say that they went from an opening day of practice banishment to the Hall of Fame? Jim Burns can.

Burns was one of 11 new inductees into the California University of Pa. Athletic Hall of Fame, during a program held at the Elmo Natali Student Center on the California Campus.

In reflecting on his honor, Burns noted, “It is really a great honor, but to be quite honest about it, when I heard of the honor, I was shocked. But then as I look back, it is a great way to end a career, being elected to the Hall of Fame.”

Then the four-year third baseman (and anywhere else he was asked to play) laughed, “but that first day, I had to wonder if anything like this would ever happen.”

How so?

Burns recalled, “I got off to a rather rocky start here with Chuck (baseball coach Gismondi). The very first day we were practicing in the gym, working on bunt defense, and I forgot part of the play. That wasn’t up to Chuck’s expectations and he threw me out of the gym. But I was back the next day and I tried after that to never forget anything.”

Gismondi laughed recalling the opening day incident, adding, “Oh, there were some trying moments with Jim and that bunch. They gave me some gray hairs but they were a good bunch. I remember once when he was a freshman I asked Jim if he could play shortstop. He just moved over to the spot, and while he made a couple of mistakes, he gave us a great effort there. But that was the kind of player he was. No matter what he was asked to do, wherever you needed him, he did it. One game he even went to left field.”

Burns, a 1985 graduate of Uniontown High School, went on to play four seasons at California, earning first team all-conference selection three times and twice being named conference Most Valuable Player.

For his career, the hard-hitting infielder had 17 home runs, 129 runs batted in, 37 doubles, and 41 stolen bases. His junior year he batted .364, and .406 as a senior. Also as a senior he led the Vulcans in eight offensive categories, and set new school RBI and doubles records for single season and career.

He also had a series at Lock Haven where the Vulcans were down two runs in the seventh and he homered to win the first game, then hit home runs his first two times up in the second game. There was another stretch as a senior when he went to bat 19 times in two weeks and got 16 hits, noting “I made only three outs in that span.”

There are some players who wouldn’t have three hits in the same run.

As a team, Jim recalled being involved in “so many big games. Once we were at home with Slippery Rock, which had a chance to win the West Division, but we beat them and knocked them out of the running and Indiana won the title. The worst of it was, those were our two biggest rivals, and we beat one so the other could win the title.”

After graduation, Jim worked two years as an assistant to Gismondi.

He added, “We had then, and we still have, a very close relationship. I got off to a rocky start with him, and we still laugh about it, but in essence, he was my father away from home. He looked after all of us players, and he would kick us in the tail on the field and in the classroom both.

“I still have, we all have, the deepest respect for him.”

Jim is still active in local baseball, playing for Bud Murphy’s in the County Baseball League, for Manager Tom Sankovich, another good friend and associate of Gismondi.

“Two of a kind,” Burns chuckled.

Today Jim, son of James Sr. and Joanne Burns, is a physical therapist and facility director at Centers for Rehabilitation Services in Uniontown.

Jim and his wife Kris live in Uniontown with their sons, Jordan, 7, and Joshua, 4, who are also active in soccer and basketball.

And they get baseball from both sides of the family, for their maternal Grandfather is the late Chuck Emory, one of the sport’s biggest followers around this area.

Looking back, Jim called his California days “an outstanding experience. It fulfilled all my dreams, both from an educational and athletic standpoint. I couldn’t have made a better decision than to have come here.”

Even if he did get kicked out of practice that first day.