Herman Frazier
Encyclopedia
Herman Ronald Frazier (born October 29, 1954) was a 1976 Olympic
Gold medalist in the men's 4x400 meter relay
for the United States
. He was also chef de mission of the 2004 U.S. Olympic team
. He has served as the Athletic Director
at the University of Alabama at Birmingham
and the University of Hawaii
.
in Philadelphia.He was a member of the Philadelphia Pioneers Track Club where he was coached and trained with Alex Woodley.
His collegiate career began at Denison University
. He later attended Arizona State University
, where he became an All-American sprinter. He was the team captain of the 1977 national championship track team. He graduated from ASU in 1977 with a degree in political science
.
As a member of the US National Track & Field team, Frazier participated both in the Olympic and Pan-American games. In the 1976 Montreal
Olympics, he ran the first leg for the gold medal-winning 4x400-meter relay team. Individually, he won a bronze medal in the 400-meter dash. He was also a gold medalist at both the 1975 and 1979 Pan-American Games. In 1980, he was a member of the U.S. Olympic team that boycotted the Olympic Games in Moscow
.
at Arizona State University in 1977. He would later become a full-time administrator and remained with the University for a total of 23 years, eventually becoming the Senior Associate Athletics Director. He would earn his first athletics director job at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2000. In 2002, he left UAB to accept the athletic director position at the University of Hawaii where he would remain until 2008.
He has served on the U.S. Olympic Committee
in numerous capacities. In 1996, he was elected as one of three vice-presidents for the Committee and accompanied the team to the 2000 games in Sydney
, Australia
. Most recently, he served as the chef de mission for the 2004 games in Athens
, Greece
. He has also served on the U.S. Olympic Athletes Advisory Council and the U.S. Olympic Overview Commission.
As a member of the Fiesta Bowl
Board of Directors, he was vice-president in 1996 and chairman in 1998 and 1999.
(Class of 2002), which recognizes "distinguished former student-athletes on their 25th anniversary as college graduates". In 2003 he was cited as one of the 101 Most Influential Minorities in Sports by Sports Illustrated
. He was named as one of the The 50 Most Powerful African Americans in Sports in the March 2005 issue of Black Enterprise magazine. In 2002, the Herman R. Frazier Political Science Scholarship was established by his friends and colleagues at Arizona State University to "celebrate and honor Mr. Frazier’s lifetime achievements" and award a "deserving political science student."
On January 8, 2008, Herman Frazier was fired from his position as athletic director at the University of Hawaii following heavy criticism from the fans and media of the State of Hawaii. On March 3, 2007, he was loudly booed by the crowd following the final home game of the University of Hawaii's head basketball coach Riley Wallace
. Frazier is widely viewed as having forced Wallace to resign by including a "no-extension" clause in his final contract. However, Wallace has accepted responsibility by saying, "The bottom line is Riley Wallace signed the contract." Frazier was also criticized by both the media and public for ongoing delays and a perceived lack of integrity in finalizing the full 2007 Hawaii Warriors football team
schedule. Frazier admitted that he may have miscalculated in regards to the schedule but stands by his record at Hawaii citing, in part, his balancing of the athletics budget. He inherited a $2.5 million deficit from his predecessor. (Note: It was discovered after Frasier left that the so called "balanced budget" left the athletic department with an even greater debt hovering around $6 million even after the windfall from the Sugar Bowl.) Finally, Frazier also received the brunt of the blame for then UH football coach, June Jones
, leaving the University for Southern Methodist University
.
On April 6, 2009, Jim Bolla
-- who Frazier hired in 2004—was fired as the women's basketball coach for Hawaii after former players complained of a "pattern of verbal abuse" from Bolla. Former UH player Pamela Tambini told the Honolulu Advertiser that players complained for years about their treatment by Bolla to Frazier but Frazier apparently took no actions. The paper quoted Tambini stating: "Everybody knew about it and did nothing about it ... We were going through hell. No student should have had to go through that. It's not fair."
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
Gold medalist in the men's 4x400 meter relay
4 x 400 metres relay
The 4 x 400 meters relay or long relay is an athletics track event in which teams comprise four runners who each complete 400 meters or one lap. It is traditionally the final event of a track meet. At top class events, the first 500 meters is run in lanes...
for the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. He was also chef de mission of the 2004 U.S. Olympic team
United States at the 2004 Summer Olympics
The United States was represented at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, by the United States Olympic Committee . The delegation of 613 athletes was the largest the country has ever sent to the Summer Olympics...
. He has served as the Athletic Director
Athletic director
An athletic director is an administrator at many American colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and related staff involved in intercollegiate or interscholastic athletic programs...
at the University of Alabama at Birmingham
University of Alabama at Birmingham
The University of Alabama at Birmingham is a public university in Birmingham in the U.S. state of Alabama. Developing from an extension center established in 1936, the institution became an autonomous institution in 1969 and is today one of three institutions in the University of Alabama System...
and the University of Hawaii
University of Hawaii at Manoa
The University of Hawaii at Mānoa is a public, co-educational university and is the flagship campus of the greater University of Hawaii system...
.
Athlete
Frazier started his athletic career as multiple sport athlete at Germantown High SchoolGermantown High School (Philadelphia)
Germantown High School is a secondary school located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.GHS, located in Germantown, is a part of the School District of Philadelphia....
in Philadelphia.He was a member of the Philadelphia Pioneers Track Club where he was coached and trained with Alex Woodley.
His collegiate career began at Denison University
Denison University
Denison University is private, coeducational, and residential college of liberal arts and sciences founded in 1831. It is located in Granville, Ohio, United States, approximately 30 miles east of Columbus, the state capital...
. He later attended Arizona State University
Arizona State University
Arizona State University is a public research university located in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area of the State of Arizona...
, where he became an All-American sprinter. He was the team captain of the 1977 national championship track team. He graduated from ASU in 1977 with a degree in political science
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
.
As a member of the US National Track & Field team, Frazier participated both in the Olympic and Pan-American games. In the 1976 Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
Olympics, he ran the first leg for the gold medal-winning 4x400-meter relay team. Individually, he won a bronze medal in the 400-meter dash. He was also a gold medalist at both the 1975 and 1979 Pan-American Games. In 1980, he was a member of the U.S. Olympic team that boycotted the Olympic Games in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
.
Administrator
Frazier began his administrative career as a graduate assistantTeaching assistant
A teaching assistant is an individual who assists a professor or teacher with instructional responsibilities. TAs include graduate teaching assistants , who are graduate students; undergraduate teaching assistants , who are undergraduate students; secondary school TAs, who are either high school...
at Arizona State University in 1977. He would later become a full-time administrator and remained with the University for a total of 23 years, eventually becoming the Senior Associate Athletics Director. He would earn his first athletics director job at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2000. In 2002, he left UAB to accept the athletic director position at the University of Hawaii where he would remain until 2008.
He has served on the U.S. Olympic Committee
United States Olympic Committee
The United States Olympic Committee is a non-profit organization that serves as the National Olympic Committee and National Paralympic Committee for the United States and coordinates the relationship between the United States Anti-Doping Agency and the World Anti-Doping Agency and various...
in numerous capacities. In 1996, he was elected as one of three vice-presidents for the Committee and accompanied the team to the 2000 games in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. Most recently, he served as the chef de mission for the 2004 games in Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
, Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
. He has also served on the U.S. Olympic Athletes Advisory Council and the U.S. Olympic Overview Commission.
As a member of the Fiesta Bowl
Fiesta Bowl
The Fiesta Bowl, now sponsored by Frito-Lay and named with their Tostitos brand, is a United States college football bowl game played annually at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. Between its origination in 1971 and 2006, the game was hosted in Tempe, Arizona at Sun Devil...
Board of Directors, he was vice-president in 1996 and chairman in 1998 and 1999.
Honors
Frazier has received numerous honors, including the NCAA Silver Anniversary AwardSilver Anniversary Awards (NCAA)
The Silver Anniversary Awards are given each year by the American National Collegiate Athletic Association to recognize six distinguished former student-athletes on their 25th anniversary as college graduates. The Silver Anniversary Awards were first given in 1973, when five distinguished former...
(Class of 2002), which recognizes "distinguished former student-athletes on their 25th anniversary as college graduates". In 2003 he was cited as one of the 101 Most Influential Minorities in Sports by Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...
. He was named as one of the The 50 Most Powerful African Americans in Sports in the March 2005 issue of Black Enterprise magazine. In 2002, the Herman R. Frazier Political Science Scholarship was established by his friends and colleagues at Arizona State University to "celebrate and honor Mr. Frazier’s lifetime achievements" and award a "deserving political science student."
Criticism
Frazier was criticized by some for leaving UAB with a $7.5 million deficit. His supporters noted that he had inherited a deficit and did not receive institutional support, while his detractors claimed that he was ineffective in increasing revenue.On January 8, 2008, Herman Frazier was fired from his position as athletic director at the University of Hawaii following heavy criticism from the fans and media of the State of Hawaii. On March 3, 2007, he was loudly booed by the crowd following the final home game of the University of Hawaii's head basketball coach Riley Wallace
Riley Wallace
Riley Wallace was the men's basketball coach at the University of Hawaii. When Wallace took over the program in 1987, it had suffered through four-straight losing seasons, including a combined 11-43 mark during the latter two years...
. Frazier is widely viewed as having forced Wallace to resign by including a "no-extension" clause in his final contract. However, Wallace has accepted responsibility by saying, "The bottom line is Riley Wallace signed the contract." Frazier was also criticized by both the media and public for ongoing delays and a perceived lack of integrity in finalizing the full 2007 Hawaii Warriors football team
2007 Hawaii Warriors football team
The 2007 Hawaii Warriors football team represented the University of Hawaii at Mānoa in the 2007 NCAA Division I-Bowl Subdivision college football season....
schedule. Frazier admitted that he may have miscalculated in regards to the schedule but stands by his record at Hawaii citing, in part, his balancing of the athletics budget. He inherited a $2.5 million deficit from his predecessor. (Note: It was discovered after Frasier left that the so called "balanced budget" left the athletic department with an even greater debt hovering around $6 million even after the windfall from the Sugar Bowl.) Finally, Frazier also received the brunt of the blame for then UH football coach, June Jones
June Jones
June Sheldon Jones, III is the American football head coach for Southern Methodist University.-Playing career:Jones played the quarterback position on three college teams: Oregon , Hawaii , and Portland State . It is during his time at Portland State that he was introduced to the Run and Shoot...
, leaving the University for Southern Methodist University
Southern Methodist University
Southern Methodist University is a private university in Dallas, Texas, United States. Founded in 1911 by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, SMU operates campuses in Dallas, Plano, and Taos, New Mexico. SMU is owned by the South Central Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church...
.
On April 6, 2009, Jim Bolla
Jim Bolla
Jim Bolla was the head women's basketball coach at the University of Hawaii.He played college basketball at the University of Pittsburgh, where he was the starting center from 1973 to 1975. The 1974 team was ranked at 10th in the nation, and featured a school record 22 game winning streak. The...
-- who Frazier hired in 2004—was fired as the women's basketball coach for Hawaii after former players complained of a "pattern of verbal abuse" from Bolla. Former UH player Pamela Tambini told the Honolulu Advertiser that players complained for years about their treatment by Bolla to Frazier but Frazier apparently took no actions. The paper quoted Tambini stating: "Everybody knew about it and did nothing about it ... We were going through hell. No student should have had to go through that. It's not fair."