Herman Frazier

Infobox Person


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name = Herman Frazier
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birth_date = October 29, 1954
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occupation = Athletic Director, University of Hawaii (2002-2008)
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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.

Athlete

Frazier started his athletic career as multiple sport athlete at Germantown High School in Philadelphia.

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.

Administrator

Frazier began his administrative career as a graduate assistant 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 2000cite web |title= UAB Press Release |url= http://main.uab.edu/show.asp?durki=31583 |date= 2000-08-22 |accessdate= 2007-03-21] . In 2002, he left UAB to accept the athletic director position at the University of Hawaiicite news |first= Dave |last=Reardon |title= Hawaii welcomes Frazier as AD today |url= http://starbulletin.com/2002/06/21/sports/story1.html |work= The Honolulu Star-Bulletin |date= 2002-06-21 |accessdate=2007-03-21 ] where he would remain until 2008.cite news | last = | first = | coauthors = | title = Frazier bought out for $312,510 | work = The Honolulu Advertiser | pages = | language = | publisher = | date = 2008-01-08 | url = http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2008/Jan/08/br/br8360179452.html | accessdate = 2008-01-08] cite news | last = | first = | coauthors = | title = UH to buy out Frazier's contract for $312,510 | work = The Honolulu Star-Bulletin | pages = | language = | publisher = | date = | url = http://starbulletin.com/breaking/breaking.php?id=6607 | accessdate = ]

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.

Honors

Frazier has received numerous honors, including the NCAA Silver Anniversary Award (Class of 2002), which recognizes "distinguished former student-athletes on their 25th anniversary as college graduates". [cite web | title = Silver Anniversary Awards, NCAA official website | url = http://www.ncaa.org/wps/portal/!ut/p/kcxml/04_Sj9SPykssy0xPLMnMz0vM0Y_QjzKLN4j3CQXJgFjGpvqRqCKO6AI-YRARXwN9X4_83FR9b_0A_YLc0NCIckdFALOxkFY!/delta/base64xml/L3dJdyEvUUd3QndNQSEvNElVRS82XzBfTFU!?CONTENT_URL=http://www.ncaa.org/awards/honors_program/silver/index.html
accessdate = 2007-03-21] In 2003 he was cited as one of the "101 Most Influential Minorities in Sports" by Sports Illustrated. [cite news |title= New World Order |url= http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/si_online/2003/new_world_order/41_60/|work= Sports Illustrated |publisher= CNN/Sports Illustrated |date= 2003-05-05 |accessdate=2007-03-21 ] He was named as one of the "The 50 Most Powerful African Americans in Sports" in the March 2005 issue of "Black Enterprise" magazine. [cite news |first= Alan |last= Hughes |title= The 50 most powerful African Americans in sports |url= http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1365/is_8_35/ai_n13813021 |work= Black Enterprise |date= 2005-03 |accessdate=2007-03-21 ] 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." [cite web | publisher = The Institute for Social Science Research | title = Political Science Dept Arizona State University: Scholarships | url= http://www.asu.edu/clas/polisci/undergraduate/frazier.html | accessdate = 2007-03-21 ]

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. [cite news |first= Dave |last= Reardon |title= UH near hiring new AD|url= http://starbulletin.com/2002/06/19/news/story1.html |work= The Honolulu Star-Bulletin |date= 2002-06-19 |accessdate=2007-03-21 ]

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. [cite news |first= Michael |last= Tsai |title= UH says aloha to Wallace with 92-75 win |url= http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2007/Mar/04/sp/FP703040379.html |work= The Honolulu Advertiser |date= 2007-03-04 |accessdate=2007-03-21 ] cite news |first = Dave |last = Reardon |title = Frazier to his critics: Judge me by my record| work = The Honolulu Star-Bulletin | date = 2007-03-25 | url = http://starbulletin.com/2007/03/25/sports/story04.html |accessdate = 2007-03-25] 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." [cite news |first= Jason |last= Kaneshiro |title= Wallace makes it official |url= http://starbulletin.com/2006/12/30/sports/story01.html |work= The Honolulu Star-Bulletin |date= 2006-12-30 |accessdate=2007-03-21 ] 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. [cite news |first = Jason |last = Kaneshiro |title = UH athletic department has lost millions since ’02 |work = The Honolulu Star-Bulletin |date = 2004-06-17 |url = http://starbulletin.com/2004/06/17/news/story5.html | accessdate = 2007-03-25] [cite news |first=Kalani |last= Simpson |title= It would have been better for Frazier if he leveled with UH fans |url= http://starbulletin.com/2007/03/20/sports/simpson.html |work= The Honolulu Star-Bulletin |date= 2007-03-20 |accessdate=2007-03-21 ] [cite news |first= Ferd |last= Lewis |title= Previous AD could seal deals |url= http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007703160347 |work= The Honolulu Advertiser |date= 2007-03-16 |accessdate=2007-03-21 ] Finally, Frazier also received the brunt of the blame for then UH football coach, June Jones, leaving the University for Southern Methodist University.

Notes

ources

* [http://hawaiiathletics.com/Admin/frazier.html Herman Frazier Biography at the University of Hawaii Athletics website]