MLB mourns loss of college baseball titan Wayne Graham

HOUSTON -- Wayne Graham, the legendary college baseball coach who turned Rice University into a national power, culminating with the 2003 national championship, and who briefly played under Hall of Fame manager Casey Stengel, passed away at his home in Austin on Tuesday night while surrounded by his family. He was 88 years old.

After winning five junior college national titles at San Jacinto College in Houston, Graham led the Owls to seven College World Series appearances, highlighted by a national championship in 2003 -- the first in any sport in Rice’s history. Along the way, he coached future Major League All-Stars Andy Pettitte, Roger Clemens, Lance Berkman and Anthony Rendon, among others.

“To me, he belongs in the conversation with Rod Dedeaux, Skip Bertman and Augie Garrido as the top four college coaches in the history of the sport to date,” said Berkman, who was the 1997 National College Player of the Year at Rice and a first-round pick of the Astros.

Graham’s hard-nosed style of teaching churned out winners on the field and molded his players for success in life, as well. Those who were able to stick it out at Rice left with a deep appreciation of Graham’s tough-loving ways.

“His ability to be able to push your buttons and get the best out of you, I think was his gift in many ways,” said current Rice coach and 12-year Major League veteran Jose Cruz Jr., who was Graham’s first big recruit to Rice. “Maybe at times unorthodox, maybe at times you’re not understanding as a young man, but it did take me a few years to really look back and be like, ‘OK, I understand, and I appreciate what you are doing and what you did for me.’”

Born in Yoakum, Texas, on April 6, 1936, Graham grew up in Houston and attended the University of Texas, where he played under coach Bibb Falk. The Phillies signed him as a free agent in 1957, and he reached the big leagues in 1963 and played in 10 games for Gene Mauch. In 1964, he played in 20 games for the Mets, who were managed by Stengel.

“'How do you expect me to win when they keep sending me mediocre players like Graham?'” he once overheard Stengel telling reporters on a flight. Still, Graham wore No. 37 in tribute to Stengel.

Graham began coaching at Scarborough High School in Houston, and later Spring Branch High School, before taking over at San Jacinto College in 1981. He turned San Jacinto into a national power, winning five JUCO national championships (1985-87, ’89-90). He was 675-113 in 11 seasons at San Jacinto, earned five National Coach of the Year awards and coached Clemens and Pettitte.

Rice, which had never qualified for the NCAA Tournament, hired Graham in 1992 and went on a historic 27-year run. The Owls made 23 consecutive NCAA appearances from 1995-2017, winning 20 consecutive regular-season or conference tournament titles in the Southwest Conference, Western Athletic Conference and Conference USA.

The 2003 team was one of the greatest college teams in history, going 58-12. The Owls started that season 33-1, winning 30 games in a row during one stretch. They eliminated defending national champion Texas in the College World Series before crushing Stanford in the championship game.

“There’s no question there was a sense of accomplishment to do that at the Division I level, that was always on his list,” said former big league infielder Paul Janish, who started at shortstop on the 2003 team and later coached under Graham at Rice. “Doing it at a place like Rice … there’s an element of it that speaks volumes, too. Being able to do it at an academic, expensive private school, and the enrollment was 4,000 kids, that gets overlooked.”

The championship team had four pitchers taken in the first round of the MLB Draft -- David Aardsma in 2003, and Philip Humber, Jeff Niemann and Wade Townsend in ’04.

“He had a great eye for talent,” Berkman said. “He recruited extremely well and had good connections in the recruiting community. He took the players that were good players, and he made them play with a kind of desperation. When you have talented guys that are maxing it out, so to speak, on the field, that’s a deadly combination. Coach was extremely adept at both of those things and that was the secret, if you want to say it that way, of his success.”

David Pierce, an assistant under Graham at Rice who later went on to be the head coach at Sam Houston, Tulane and Texas, stayed close with Graham in his later years in Austin. He said Graham was an influential mentor.

“His whole thought all the time was growth and development,” Pierce said. “How can we make this kid the best he can be? How do we maximize every single player to reach their full potential? And I think through those types of conversations, challenges, in-game experiences, the whole time was a part of building players for life.”

Graham coached five national players of the year, 28 first-team All-Americans, seven Conference Players of the Year, six Conference Pitchers of the Year, 19 first-round MLB Draft picks -- including the first overall pick in 1997 in Matt Anderson -- and sent 41 players to the Major Leagues.

“I got to Rice and everything changed, man,” Cruz Jr. said. “I blossomed first on the baseball side, and then I feel like, as time went on, I understood time management, and I understood how really great Rice was to mold you as a human, and I blossomed a junior. It was my best academic year -- the year with the most pressure.”

Berkman said the two people who had the biggest impact on his career were his father, Larry, who taught him how to swing a bat and instilled a love for the game, and Graham.

“When I got to Coach Graham, it was kind of like a finishing school, and he really was able to teach me a lot about mental toughness and what it takes to be an elite competitor,” he said. “That’s something that I’ll always be grateful to coach for doing that.”

Graham is survived by his wife, Tanya, and several children. A memorial service is pending.