Remembering a Legend
February 12, 2010 06:07 PM | General
February 12, 2010
MORGANTOWN, W. Va. – When Fred Schaus passed away Wednesday evening, West Virginia lost one of its truly great leaders of sport.
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| Fred Schaus shows off the team's new warmup jacket with late athletic equipment manager Carl Roberts.
WVU Sports Communications photo |
He set WVU basketball scoring records playing on the great teams from 1946 to 1949. Following an outstanding professional career, he returned to be the Mountaineers’ winningest basketball coach. And when called back to be athletic director, he turned around a bankrupt department and took the WVU athletic program to a new championship level.
Schaus had all of the positive character qualities and attributes of a leader and role model. He was an inspiration for players, coaches and administrators. He was soft spoken, a fierce and spirited competitor, a champion, a successful businessman, and always a gentle gentleman with great humility. He was president of his class and team captain at WVU and captain of both the Ft. Wayne Zollner Pistons and New York Knicks in the NBA.
I was a big Fred Schaus fan when I was growing up in Charleston and listened to Jack Fleming broadcast the WVU games. Just like another fan who became one of WVU’s all-time great, Hot Rod Hundley, I followed the games keeping a scorebook. Little did I know that in less than a decade we would all be working together.
For Fred, education was always a priority. He graduated from WVU in three years and was proud that every Mountaineer player he coached received a college degree. That is a record few college basketball coaches can claim.
As a young bachelor in Morgantown, Fred and his wife Barbara frequently invited me for dinner. We developed a close friendship and after work as sports information director I would often go to the field house, change clothes and shoot baskets with him after the team practice.
A perfectionist, he wanted to know everything possible about the opposition. In his first season, our first two conference games were against Washington & Lee and Richmond. Richmond played at W&L in early December 1954 and Fred felt it was important to see both teams before our games. So, we drove all day from Morgantown to Lexington, Virginia and arrived in time to get something to eat before the game. Having just graduated from William & Mary, I was familiar with players on both teams and introduced him to Les Hooker and Billy McCann, the respective coaches of Richmond and W&L.
Afer the game, we drove back to Morgantown on winding, two-lane mountain roads on a dark and snowy night so he could be ready for team practice the next day. In those days that drive would take nearly eight hours each way. It was my first experience scouting and added a new discipline to my résumé. After winning the first two games, WVU beat W&L 96-86 and Richmond 72-66 to start the season 4-0. Fred said scouting the two teams in advance was critical for the wins. I doubt if any major college basketball coach would go to that effort today.
During the next two years we spent a great deal of time together, driving through the back roads of West Virginia and Western Pennsylvania scouting and recruiting potential players and future opponents. During the summer months we teamed to play tennis doubles, often against Dr. Ray Duncan, then dean of WVU’s school of physical education, and Dr. Pat Tork. With Fred as a partner and his motivation and drive to always win, we seldom lost even a set, much less a match.
I left WVU in June 1956 but we soon reconnected in California when the Lakers moved from Minneapolis to Los Angeles in 1960. Schaus was named the new head coach and reunited again with Hot Rod Hundley and Jerry West. As a coach for seven years, and then vice president and general manager, he built a Lakers dynasty that won an NBA record 33 straight games in 1972 and the franchise’s first world championship.
He was a compassionate person and always concerned for his players and friends. Sometimes my business travel would coincide with Lakers road games. Once in Chicago, because the old arena for the Bulls game was in a high crime area, rather than leave a ticket for me at “will call” he insisted I come to the team’s hotel and not only go to the game with him, but even sit on the team bench during the game.
When he was in management with the Lakers, we collaborated on several promotion ideas involving my clients that resulted in five of the most successful event promotions at The Forum.
In 1981, Fred returned to Morgantown as athletic director and turned around a nearly bankrupt program. Before he retired in 1989, WVU football teams under Coach Don Nehlen had played in five bowl games and the 1989 national championship Fiesta Bowl, and Coach Gale Catlett’s basketball teams went to six NCAA tournaments.
I had to make a difficult career decision in 1981. Several years earlier I had directed the international media campaign to bring the 1984 Olympic Games to Los Angeles. I was deeply involved with the Games and had made a number of commitments that I felt had to be honored. When Fred called me and asked me to come to WVU to be his deputy and plan to succeed him when he retired, I regretted having to decline.
Two years later after the successful Olympics, Fred recommended me to be commissioner of the Atlantic 10 conference with a long range goal of still returning to Morgantown to succeed him. Unfortunately, this was not to be.
It was sad that he could not participate in the celebration three weeks ago when WVU retired Hot Rod Hundley’s #33. He also was responsible for starting Rod’s successful career in broadcasting, hiring him to be an assistant to the legendary Chick Hearn.
I am so thankful I could spend some time with both Fred and Barbara last month. While he was confined to a wheelchair, the responsiveness in his eyes and his smile and the way he clenched my hand when I said goodbye brought back so many wonderful memories.
Fred Schaus is the type of wonderful person you meet and know once in a lifetime. He has touched the lives of so many of his players and friends. He will be missed.
Rene A. Henry was born in Charleston and was WVU’s Sports Information Director from 1954 to 1956. He now lives in Seattle, Washington.
