The recent death of college baseball coach and legend Ron Fraser reminded me he was my first interview as the sports editor at U. of Miami. Baseball was not a BIG sport at the U, but Fraser said that would change. He was sure right.

He turned down the job of coaching the “Olympic baseball team of USSR” when he noted the Russian kids were “recruited.” He told me he would rather coach a talentless team of kids who loved baseball than a bunch of packaged super-jocks.

Fraser never had a losing season at Miami. He won two NCAA Championships and got to coach the US Olympic baseball team. He is a member of 10 different Halls of Fame. He showed colleges across the land how to pack the fans into college baseball games. Florida and baseball will miss him.