L
ou Frazier is putting his baseball experience and knowledge to good use, helping young people learn the sport and a bit about life.
Frazier, known as “Sweet Lou,” played for the SCC baseball team in 1985 and 1986. He holds the school record in stolen bases, both in a season and all time. He also ranks second in career batting average (.452) and runs scored (122). After a solid major league career in which he played for the Montreal Expos, Texas Rangers and Chicago White Sox, Frazier went on to coach in the major leagues. He won two World Series rings as an assistant coach with the Boston Red Sox. “Baseball has been good to me and my family,” he said. “That’s one reason I wanted to stay involved by teaching young people about the game and what it takes to change their lives for the better.” Since returning to the Valley, Frazier founded the Louie Sluggers organization, which allows him to mentor and coach youth in the fundamentals of winning baseball. In his first year of running the organization, Sweet Lou’s team became 12-and-under state champions. “I want to show them that through hard work, dedication and discipline, they can reach the goals they set for themselves,” he said. “Going to SCC allowed me to experience a lot of things I didn’t get to experience growing up in St. Louis,” said Frazier, noting he also met his wife Dawn during a return visit to SCC. “It was a family environment that provided a lot of support for me. I never got homesick because I felt at home there.”
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Save the Date
Frazier was inducted into the SCC Athletic Hall of Fame in 2012. The annual induction ceremony is part of the school’s commitment to recognize those that have left it all on the field as players and coaches for the Fighting Artichokes. Frazier said it was an honor and compliment to be inducted into the SCC Hall of Fame. Joining Frazier as Hall of Fame inductees in 2012 were Julie Crutchfield, who served as the SCC gymnastics coach for six years, and Joe Germaine, a two-sport standout at SCC, who was an All-Conference player in both football and baseball. During her tenure as coach, Crutchfield’s teams won the ACCAC conference championship in all but one of those years, while finishing number two in the nation in 1977. Her team’s performance that year earned her the honor of National Gymnastics Small Coach of the Year. In addition to her coaching success in gymnastics, Crutchfield also coached the school’s cross-country team. Her contributions to SCC are still evident today through the development of the two-mile walk on the painted sidewalks. Germaine holds the school’s single game records in Football for most passing yards (580), completions (49) and passing attempts (62). Although he only played one year of football at SCC, he ranks in the top 10 in eight statistical categories. After SCC, he went on to greater collegiate and professional success. In his senior year at Ohio State University, he set 11 school records as he threw for 3,330 yards and 25 touchdowns. Germaine was selected to the Ohio State Football All-Century Team in 2000. He also played in both the NFL and AFL before moving on to a coaching career. He is currently the head football coach at Queen Creek High School.
October 12, 2013
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