It was the Sunday before Memorial Day, 1992, and the top-ranked University of Miami was one defeat from elimination in the NCAA baseball tournament — which also would have been Ron Fraser’s final game in his 30-year reign as the Hurricanes’ head coach.
Fraser, known as “The Wizard of college baseball,’’ delivered a pep talk to rally his downtrodden ’Canes after they blew a 3-0 lead to North Carolina State and were tied at 4 in the eighth inning.
“What the hell are you guys doing to me?’’ Fraser pleaded. “Remember, if we lose this game, it’s over and I don’t get paid anymore!’’
The ’Canes rallied to victory, and the beloved Fraser would eventually go to his 12th and final College World Series in Omaha, Neb., before retiring that summer.
On Sunday, more than 20 years after his exit from the UM baseball program, Fraser died of complications from Alzheimer’s Disease.
He was 79.
Fraser amassed a 1,271-438-9 record at UM from 1963 through ’92, at the time behind only the late Southern Cal’s Rod Dedeaux (1,332-571-11).
He transformed UM baseball from an afterthought to a national power and local draw, catering to fans of all ages, creating a fun, wacky atmosphere and producing the program’s first two College World Series titles — in 1982 and 1985. Longtime ’Canes coach Jim Morris has carried the torch for two more titles in 1999 and 2001. Miami currently has qualified for the NCAA tournament a record 40 consecutive years.
“I was an assistant for him, and he was the most influential person on my coaching career,’’ Morris, about to begin his 20th season as UM coach, said Sunday. “To me, he put college baseball on the map.’’
Immediately after his UM retirement, Fraser coached the 1992 U.S. Olympic baseball team in Barcelona.
The son of a fireman who moonlighted as a boxer to earn extra money for the family, Fraser grew up poor in Nutley, N.J., where his first baseball mitt came from a firehouse charity drive.
Named “Outstanding Athlete’’ his senior year at Nutley High, Fraser attended Murray State in Kentucky, then transferred to Florida State, where he was a pitcher and eventual graduate assistant coach.
Fraser began coaching at UM for a $2,200 salary when he was 25, the nation’s youngest college baseball coach. He took a cow pasture for a field and eventually helped raise the money for Mark Light Stadium — today known as Alex Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Field.
Fraser became almost as well-known for his fundraising and marketing genius as for winning games. He inspired creative promotions that he often described as “good, clean G-rated family entertainment.’’ Among his promotions: Tax Night (bring your 1040 form and get in free) and General Hospital Night — free, nontransferable open-heart surgery (with a five-year window) for the winner.
Fraser’s accolades are lengthy. He was named NCAA Coach of the Decade for the 1980s and is in several Halls of Fame, including the first class of the College Baseball Hall of Fame (2006) in Lubbock, Texas.
He also was involved in several community charities, chairing committees for Easter Seals and Make a Wish Foundation and serving on the board of the Leukemia Society.
Fraser is survived by his wife of 24 years, Karen; daughters Cynthia Fraser Beahn of Davie, Lynda Fraser Poorman of Weston and Elizabeth Fraser Kraut of Weston; and grandchildren Kyle and Amanda Gonzales, Michael Fraser Poorman and Andrew and Brett Kraut. Arrangements are pending.
