HOUSTON — Wayne Graham, who coached the Rice baseball crew to seven Faculty World Sequence appearances and the 2003 nationwide championship, has died. He was 88.
The college introduced that Graham died Tuesday night time in Austin. It didn’t present a reason behind loss of life.
Graham took over a struggling Rice program in 1992 and gained 1,173 video games in 27 seasons. He led the Owls to 23 consecutive NCAA tournaments from 1995 to 2017, together with 11 tremendous regionals. All the Owls’ CWS appearances got here between 1997 and 2008.
Graham’s 2003 crew gained two of three video games in opposition to Stanford within the CWS finals to present Rice its first nationwide title in a crew sport.
“What Coach Graham achieved throughout his time at Rice is really outstanding,” Rice athletic director Tommy McClelland stated. “He constructed a program that served because the envy of faculty baseball for almost three a long time. I’m grateful I used to be in a position to spend time with him final fall and thank him for all he had finished for Rice baseball and our College. He set the usual for excellence inside our athletics applications and his legacy won’t ever be forgotten.”
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Graham was born in Yoakum, Texas, and performed two seasons at Texas earlier than an 11-year profession within the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Mets organizations. He was a longtime coach at San Jacinto Junior Faculty, the place seven-time Cy Younger Award winner Roger Clemens starred earlier than transferring to Texas.
“Coach Wayne Graham was one of many Better of the Finest! A baseball lifer! Nice Coach, however much better trainer of the sport! Gave us younger males life classes to hold with us perpetually,” Clemens wrote in a social media submit.
Coach Wayne Graham was one of many Better of the Finest!
A baseball lifer! Nice Coach, however much better trainer of the sport! Gave us younger males life classes to hold with us perpetually.
I’ll miss Coach, and his humorous tales we had collectively through the years.
A Winner!
Thanks for…
— Roger Clemens (@rogerclemens) September 4, 2024
Rice had 5 nationwide gamers of the 12 months and 19 first-round picks within the Main League Baseball newbie draft, together with No. 1 choose Matt Anderson in 1997. In 2004, pitchers Philip Humber, Jeff Niemann and Wade Townsend had been chosen third, fourth and eighth as Rice grew to become the primary college to have three gamers chosen within the first spherical.
