James Warren “Coach” Edlen, 47, of Galesburg, passed away Sunday morning at OSF St. Francis Medical Center in Peoria, after several years of health challenges.
He was born March 15, 1975, in Galesburg, the son of Michael Warren and Marjory E. (Agnew) Edlen.
He is survived by his mother, Marj; sisters, Cara L. Reed and Carla D. Chavez; six nieces and nephews, Ben (Megan) Swearingen, Randy Swearingen, Lindsey (Travis) Billeter, Raina (Michael Young) Hogberg, Jessica Reed, and Jeffery (Tyler Davis) Reed; great nieces and nephews, and great-great nieces and nephews; and a wealth of lifelong friends. He was preceded in death by his father.
While attending Western Illinois University in Macomb, James held many roles, such as RA, student leader, NRHH National Board representative, and most notably as mentor and friend. He moved to Atlanta and served Emory University in the same capacity.
James had a very distinguished career as an ASA/USA Softball Umpire. He started his career as a Slow Pitch Softball Umpire in 2004 with Gwinnett Umpires Association calling local recreation games. He progressed and excelled over the next several years. In 2009 he was named Umpire In Chief for Gwinnett Umpires Association and also performed the assigning duties. Over the next nine years he assigned approximately 26,000 games at the local level. While specializing in Slow Pitch Softball, he also called Fast Pitch Softball and moved up the ranks in that discipline. He called five USA Softball Slow Pitch National Championships including the Men’s A and Men’s B Championships. In Fast Pitch he umpired three USA Softball National Championships including the JO Girl’s 16A National Championship. He served as Assistant Umpire In Chief for the 2015 USA Girl’s 16A National Championship. James served as Umpire Coordinator for three of USA Softballs most prestigious tournaments, the 2010 USA Softball 18 Gold Championship, the 2016 USA Softball Junior Olympic Cup and most recently the 2021 USA Softball Junior Olympic Cup in Columbus, Georgia.
His awards and accolades are many: USA Softball Elite Slow Pitch Umpire, Member of the National Indicator Fraternity, Gold Level Member of the USA Softball Medals Program, 2016 Graybill Daniels Commissioner’s Award for Distinguished Service, and 2012 USA Softball of Georgia Umpire of the Year.
Perhaps most notably, James has served as the Umpire in Chief and Tournament Director of the Wish for Wendy Softball Challenge to battle Cystic Fibrosis since 2007, being recognized by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation of Georgia with their “Foundation Hero” Award in 2017. During that time, he has brought together volunteer umpires from across the Atlanta, Georgia area to officiate the tournament, coordinating scorekeepers and other volunteer staff to help make the event an annual success. James raised roughly $40,000 in in-kind donations to the charity efforts as well as over $30,000 in cash donation and donated every game fee he personally earned from Gwinnett Umpire Association assignments from 2016-2018 to the charity.
While not adhering to any organized religion, James had a strong faith in God. He had a love of cooking and also enjoyed reading his cookbook collection. Family and friends commonly use some of the following words to describe James, selfless, charitable, blunt, humorous, astute, loyal, organized, dependable, hard worker, goal driven, unflappable, determined, detail oriented, friendly, and personable.
Cremation will be accorded. To celebrate his life, a memorial visitation will be from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday, May 22, 2022 at Hinchliff-Pearson-West Funeral Directors and Cremation Services of Galesburg. Memorial contributions in his name may be made to the animal shelter or rescue of the donor’s choice. Online condolences for the family may be left on the funeral home’s website at www.h-p-w.com.
