University of Minnesota Athletics
11/2/2026 5:08:00 PM | Baseball
MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. – The University of Minnesota baseball program mourns the loss of Gopher great and former head coach, George Thomas, who recently passed away at the age of 88.
Thomas was a 1957 letterwinner for the Golden Gophers before signing as an undrafted free agent with the Detroit Tigers system. Thomas spent 13 years in the major leagues playing for four different professional organizations before his playing career came to an end in 1971. Following his playing career, Thomas returned to the University of Minnesota as an assistant coach under Dick Siebert before taking over as head coach in 1979. As head coach, Thomas tallied a 95-43 overall record and a trip to the 1981 NCAA Division I playoffs.
A funeral service celebrating George's life will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Monday, November 16, 2026, at Christ Presbyterian Church, 6901 Normandale Rd, Edina, MN, with visitation one hour prior. The service will be livestreamed at www.cpcedina.org/memorials.
Interment at Fort Snelling National Cemetery will be the following day attended by his family.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Gopher Baseball Program at the University of Minnesota https://bit.ly/gopherbaseball or to the Red Sox Foundation Inc. P.O. Box 411217 Boston, MA 02241, or online at redsoxfoundation.org/donate/
