Arnie Chavera
Head Baseball Coach – Arnie Chavera
Coach Chavera enters his eighth year as Head Baseball coach of the Braves. A native of Texas, he graduated from Arlington Sam Houston high school and played two years at Navarro Junior College in Corsicana, Texas. During that time, he was coached by Skip Johnson, who is now the assistant coach for the University of Texas Longhorns. During the summer of 1994, Chavera played for the Elkart Dusters of the, collegiate wood-bat, Jayhawk League. The team won the Jayhawk League championship and finished third at the NBC World Series. While in the Jayhawk league, Chavera played for Greg Evans who is currently the assistant coach at Oklahoma State University. After playing one year at Dallas Baptist University, Coach Chavera signed with the Houston Astros baseball organization and played five years of minor-league baseball. Three of those seasons were under the tutelage of Manny Acta, current manager of the Cleveland Indians. As a professional, Chavera has a lifetime batting average of .286 highlighted by 61 homeruns and 77 doubles. In 2000, he earned a Mid-Season & Post-Season All-Star selection.
In seven years coaching for Black Hawk, Chavera has led the Braves to the Arrowhead Conference Championship on five occasions while receiving the Conference Coach of the Year award in each of those seasons. Along with conference champions, the 2006, 2009 and 2011 teams were also the Region IV Sectional Champions. The Braves baseball program has won conference titles in 9 of the past 12 years. The 2011 team set a new season wins record while going 44-9. The team was ranked in the NJCAA National Polls for most of the season while being ranked as high as #3. The 2011 team finished ranked #10 in the country. In seven years Chavera has placed 48 sophomores at NCAA DI, DII, DIII, and NAIA, as well as, Major League Baseball to continue their playing careers. While stressing academics, he has coached 49 Academic All-Conference and 9 Academic All-American award recipients.
Coach Chavera has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Human Performance and Fitness. In 2004, he served as a Strength Coach for the Minnesota Twins Baseball Club. Chavera is the Activities Director for Black Hawk College. He also serves as the Arrowhead Athletic Conference baseball chairperson.
Before arriving at Black Hawk, Chavera was an assistant coach for St. Ambrose University from 2002-2004. As the first base coach, he was in charge of hitting, catchers, and outfielders and headed the strength program. Prior to St. Ambrose, Chavera was an assistant coach for Davenport Assumption high school during the seasons of 2001 and 2002.
Coach Chavera and his wife Ericka reside in Davenport, Iowa with their 5 year old daughter Giselle Bryn.
