One of the most popular figures in the history of Jamestown baseball has passed away.

Pat Daugherty, who managed the Jamestown Expos for six seasons (1977-1981 and 1990), died earlier this week. The announcement was made on X, formerly known as Twitter. He was 89.

Daugherty had been a coach in Jamestown under Walt Hriniak in 1972 and was also a highly successful coach at Indian Hills Community College in Centerville, Iowa where he posted a career record of 640-225 and was inducted into four halls of fame, including the American Baseball Coaches Association and NJCAA Coaches Association.

On a personal note, I first met Daugherty in 1982 when I spent the summer serving as the assistant general manager for the Jamestown Expos under then-GM Dan Lunetta. One of Daugherty’s stories I remember most fondly — told over lunch at the former College Inn on Second Street — was when he recalled the night he slept in his office in the bowels of College Stadium. Apparently, the city had experienced a wicked thunderstorm in the wee hours, but Daugherty, fast asleep, was never aware of it.

Until the next morning.

Bleary-eyed, Daugherty quickly realized it had rained so hard that it left his office under water, and his cot was literally floating around the room … with him on it.

That was just one of many funny stories connected to the likable manager, including the New York-Pennsylvania League game in 1990 when a “Candid Camera” television episode was filmed here. Since then, that video has been viewed more than 103,000 times on YouTube.

After leaving the Montreal organization, Daugherty became the first scouting director for the Colorado Rockies, serving in that capacity from 1991-98, before transitioning to the role of special assistant to the general manager until his retirement in 2014.

One of the players Daugherty was responsible for drafting was Todd Helton, who will be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday.