Ron Fraser

Ronald 'Ron' Fraser (born June 25, 1933 in Nutley, New Jersey) was the college baseball coach at the University of Miami from 1963 to 1992.

Nicknamed the "Wizard of College Baseball," he was one of the most successful coaches in NCAA baseball history, and was also responsible for bringing college baseball to a new level of public awareness. The Miami Hurricanes baseball team went from being on the brink of being "contracted" to being the toast of college baseball under Fraser's tenure.

Early years as player and coach

Born and raised in Nutley, New Jersey, Fraser was a three-sport letterman at Nutley High School where he graduated in 1953. After graduation, he played baseball for Florida State University from 1954 to 1956 as a relief pitcher. After that he was in the Army for some years, stationed in Germany and the Netherlands. He became manager of the national team of Germany and after the 1958 European championship, he managed the Netherlands until 1963. In 1963, Fraser took a head coaching job with the University of Miami, a school which did not offer its baseball players a scholarship. Even though the school did not begin to offer scholarships until 1973, Fraser built a respectable program through hard work and endless promotions. Some of the people Fraser brought in to bring publicity to the program were Major League Baseball Hall of Famers Ted Williams and Stan Musial, as well as announcer Joe Garagiola. In 1974, Miami was runner-up to the University of Southern California, a perennial college baseball powerhouse. The previous year, Miami started a record streak of consecutive postseason appearances in college baseball, a record which as of the 2009 season is still being added to. Also in 1973, Mark Light Stadium was built in large part to efforts by Fraser to build a privately funded stadium.

The 1980s

The 1980s were a time of great change in Miami athletics. The Miami Hurricanes football team, considered the team of the decade by many pundits, won championships in 1983, 1987 and 1989. While the success of Miami football seemed to eclipse much of the success of the baseball program, '80s Miami baseball was in many ways, the golden era of Fraser's Miami Hurricanes. Miami won their first two college world series in 1982 and 1985. While opponents' fans often criticized Hurricane football fans for not selling out the Orange Bowl. Mark Light Stadium was almost always a full house for Hurricane baseball games and Fraser's Hurricanes drew 1.27 million fans in the '80s, the best in college baseball. In 1992, Fraser retired as coach of Miami Baseball, and for a short time was head of the U.S. Amateur National Baseball Team. He can still often be found at University of Miami baseball games and the building that houses the baseball offices is named after him, the Ron Fraser Building.

Fraser's impact on college sports

Fraser's impact on college baseball, University of Miami athletics, and college athletics in general is hard to overestimate. In the mid 1970s when Hurricane football was on the verge of being eliminated, Fraser's resurrection of Miami baseball was a useful model. The University knew that with the right football coach in place, Miami could do the same thing in football that it did in baseball. Without that model, Miami might have just dropped football unceremoniously. Fraser was also instrumental in lobbying ESPN to broadcast college baseball games, something which is now part of their rotation of spring sports. Fraser also helped get the momentum going to reinstate Miami's dormant basketball program which has seen sporadic success. Ron Fraser's special gift for promotion has served as a model for many college Olympic sports programs around the country which have traditionally had difficulty attracting spectators.

Head coaching record

Overall Conference

Year School W L T Pct W L T Pct Postseason

1963 Miami (FL) 18 9 0 .667

1964 Miami (FL) 20 9 1 .683

1965 Miami (FL) 23 12 1 .653

1966 Miami (FL) 19 18 1 .513

1967 Miami (FL) 23 15 1 .648

1968 Miami (FL) 27 11 1 .705

1969 Miami (FL) 31 1 0 .738

1970 Miami (FL) 28 15 1 .648

1971 Miami (FL) 35 11 0 .761 NCAA District

1972 Miami (FL) 32 17 0 .653

1973 Miami (FL) 42 17 0 .712 NCAA District

1974 Miami (FL) 51 11 0 .823 College World Series

1975 Miami (FL) 45 14 0 .763 NCAA Regional

1976 Miami (FL) 41 15 0 .732 NCAA Regional

1977 Miami (FL) 44 13 0 .772 NCAA Regional

1978 Miami (FL) 50 12 0 .806 College World Series

1979 Miami (FL) 55 11 0 .823 College World Series

1980 Miami (FL) 59 12 0 .831 College World Series

1981 Miami (FL) 61 10 0 .859 College World Series

1982 Miami (FL) 55 17 1 .760 College World Series Champions

1983 Miami (FL) 61 21 0 .744 NCAA Regional

1984 Miami (FL) 48 28 0 .632 College World Series

1985 Miami (FL) 64 16 0 .800 College World Series Champions

1986 Miami (FL) 50 17 0 .746 College World Series

1987 Miami (FL) 35 24 1 .592 NCAA Regional

1988 Miami (FL) 52 14 1 .784 College World Series

1989 Miami (FL) 49 18 0 .731 College World Series

1990 Miami (FL) 52 13 0 .800 NCAA Regional

1991 Miami (FL) 46 17 0 .730 NCAA Regional

1992 Miami (FL) 55 10 0 .846 College World Series

OVERALL TOTALS 1271 438 9 .742

(source:wikipedia)