Longtime University of Miami coach died on Sunday morning, after a prolonged battled with Alzheimer's disease
Ron Fraser coached the national teams from two different countries,
is a member of 10 different Halls of Fame, won two NCAA baseball
championships and never had a losing record in a 30-year career with the
Miami Hurricanes.
He'll be remembered for so many other reasons.
The
longtime Miami coach – dubbed "the wizard of college baseball" – died
Sunday morning after fighting Alzheimer's disease for many years, family
spokesman
Tony Segreto said. University officials said Fraser was 79,
though a statement issued by his family did not divulge his age or other
private matters, including a cause of death.
"The impact he had
on our university, on college baseball and on the game itself worldwide
is immeasurable," acting Miami athletic director
Blake James said.
Fraser's
legacy will be, as he once said, his penchant for "doing crazy things
out there". He raffled car batteries, hosted bikini nights, threw
nine-course gourmet dinners on the Hurricanes' infield, even is credited
for helping bring batgirls into the college game. If any idea to drum
up interest or money for his program came his way, Fraser wanted to make
it happen.
"No one did it better," said Texas'
Augie Garrido, the NCAA Division I coaching-wins leader.
But Fraser's finest moment may have come at the College World Series in 1982.
A
few Hurricanes stuck fingers in their ears, the signal for the
hidden-ball trick, known to this day as
"The Grand Illusion." Miami was
leading 4-3 in the sixth inning of a winner's bracket game in Omaha,
Neb., and Wichita State's Phil Stephenson was on first base.
With his
team down by a run, Stephenson was going to try to steal; everyone in
the stadium knew this, especially since he already had swiped 86 bases
that season.
So the play, which was installed in 15 minutes the
day before, was called.
Skip Bertman, Fraser's associate coach at the
time who went on to become a great at LSU, gave the signal.
Mike
Kasprzak was the Miami pitcher, and made a few throws over to first to
get Stephenson's attention.
Then came the moment. Kasprzak made
another "throw" to first, one where Hurricanes' first baseman
Steve
Lusby dove for the supposedly errant ball and, as the story goes, swore
to further sell his displeasure. Several Hurricanes started chasing the
"ball" along the right-field line, and others in the dugout pointed up
the line excitedly, getting in on the act.
And what an act it was.
"He would teach the bat girls to scramble as if they were getting out of the way of it," Florida
State coach
Mike Martin said Sunday.
"They were sitting on a chair. He
also had the bullpen and had a guy call it, 'There's the ball! Get out
of the way!' It was theatrics at its best."
Sure was. Kasprzak
tossed the ball — he had it the whole time — to second base, a stunned
Stephenson was tagged out trying to advance, Miami won the game and went
on to capture the national championship.
When the play was called, Kasprzak remembers exactly what was going through his head: "What if this doesn't work?"
"I'm
not sure if every coach would have allowed their teams to attempt
something like that," Kasprzak said Sunday in a telephone interview.
"He
was always the showman type. Doing something like that on a stage as
big as the College World Series was something that maybe only he would
have attempted. That worked right into his personality and his approach
to the game and putting on a good show."
Fraser took Miami to
another national title in 1985, and wound up leading the Hurricanes to
the College World Series 12 times over his 30 years at the school. He
retired in 1992 with 1,271 wins.
But his biggest victories came through his promotion of the college game.
"I
was more interested in getting the people in the stands," Fraser once
said, "because I knew we'd never be really successful unless we made
money."
Fraser also played a key role in getting baseball on
national television. And now, the College World Series – the entire NCAA
tournament, really – is a mainstay on TV, as are hundreds of
regular-season games annually.
"Coach Fraser is the most
influential person in my career and the man who put college baseball on
the map," current Miami coach
Jim Morris said last year. "He is like a
father to me."
Ronald George Fraser was born and raised in New
Jersey, then attended Florida State, where he's a member of the
Seminoles' Hall of Fame.
His induction there really had very little to do with his athletic achievements in Tallahassee.
"Florida
State University is proud to honor a former athlete who more recently
has become a distinguished opponent," read the text of his induction
into that Hall of Fame in 1981. "A brilliant promoter and coach, he has
advanced collegiate baseball at the University of Miami, across Florida
and across the nation."
That's how well thought of Fraser was: The Seminoles put an arch rival in their Hall of Fame.
"Heck,
he used to wash the baseballs in milk because he didn't have enough
money to buy the dozen or so baseballs he needed," Martin said. "So,
he'd wash them in milk and use it as a cleaner. ... He was a character.
And, he really was a guy who shared his knowledge with younger coaches."
"I'm going to miss him. He was a good man."
After
a stint leading the Dutch national team, Fraser took over at Miami in
1963 with a $2,200 salary, a converted shower for an office and a cow
pasture for a field.
He got the school's attention in most
unconventional way – which seemed fitting for him. University officials
said Sunday that Miami first noticed Fraser by his appearances on the
television game show, "What's My Line?"
"He was the person who put
college baseball on the map – not only in the crowds and the
entertainment we see today, but in the competitiveness of the game
itself," Miami trustee Paul DiMare said. "It was all him."
College baseball was not a revenue-generating sport, even for successful programs, so Fraser got creative.
Giveaways,
parachutists, whatever he could think of, it all was part of Fraser's
plan to entice more people to come see his team.
"My whole thing
was to entertain the people. People said it was the winning, but I was
trying to entertain the people so they would come back," Fraser said
around the time his coaching career ended. "I did a lot of crazy things
and it worked."
Attendance at Miami grew over a seven-year span
from 33,000 a season to 90,000. And in 1981, the
Hurricanes set a record
with 163,261 fans – over 3,200 per game. Attendance dipped below
100,000 only once for the remainder of Fraser's tenure.
After
eight straight winning seasons to start off his tenure at Miami, the
Hurricanes finally broke through with the school's first NCAA Tournament
appearance in 1971. In 1982, the Hurricanes swept through five games in
Omaha, clinching the school's first national title with a 9-3 win over
Wichita State.
Three seasons later, the Hurricanes won their
second championship, beating Texas twice in three days for the 1985
crown. That team finished with a school record 64 wins.
And to think – Fraser's run at Miami almost didn't get started.
With
the athletic department in dire straits in the early 1970s, the school
elected to cut one program.
Football was lousy, basketball was worse and
baseball – though far more successful than the others – didn't make
money.
"We were going to have to let one of them go," Fraser said.
He
fully expected baseball to be the program that got cut. So in a
last-ditch effort, Fraser called in some favors.
Baseball Hall of Famer
Stan Musial (who died at 92 on Saturday, one day before Fraser), major
league broadcaster Joe Garagiola and other notables showed up at a beach
benefit banquet that impressed the school.
In 1972, the university
dropped basketball instead of baseball.
Fraser made the move pay off, finally leading Miami to its first College World Series appearance in 1974.
"Coach
Fraser had a tremendous impact on the baseball program at the
University of Miami at a pivotal time in our history," Miami President
Donna Shalala said.
"His love of the sport and the program can still be
felt, years after this legendary tenure at 'The U.'"
Fraser is a
former NCAA coach of the year and coached numerous U.S. national teams –
including the 1992 Olympic team, and went on to work with many
community and charity organizations in his retirement.
Miami officials said he had three children and five grandchildren.
Funeral arrangements have not been announced.
"On
the field and off, Ron Fraser showed how one man can make a
difference," James said.
"The University of Miami, South Florida and
college baseball are all better because of him."
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