Greatest college baseball coach dies

[Jake83]

Former 11 time national champion baseball coach Rod Dedeaux died at 91 yesterday. At the Universiy of Southern California Dedeaux won 11 national championships and produced over 200 major league players. Former players include Mark Mcgwire, Tom Seaver, Randy Johnson, Dave Kingman and Fred Lynn. He will be missed in the baseball world as he has been close to Tommy Lasorda and Hall of Fame manager and USC bat bay Sparky Anderson.

[Captain Cold Nose]

The term legend gets thrown around a tad too much, but Dedeaux most assuredly is one. He will definitely be missed.

[Gagne#3 8]

He is a legend in the college game of baseball. 11 national champions is by far the most and only behind John Wooten as the greatest coach in the history of the Pac 10.

[sschirmer]

I was sad to hear this, RIP Rod.

[Where is Chone Figgins]

RIP Rod Dedeaux an important figure in not just college baseball but baseball in general.

[Mattingly]

I'm trying to get a formal Obit on the man, but haven't seen one yet. Here's what I've come across so far.

Former USC Baseball Coach Rod Dedeaux Dies

Ex-USC Baseball Coach Rod Dedeaux, Named by Publications As 'Coach of the Century', Dies at 91

LOS ANGELES Jan 6, 2006 — Rod Dedeaux was a colorful character and a remarkable baseball coach.

Dedeaux, who guided Southern California to a record 11 NCAA baseball championships and helped mold such major league greats as Mark McGwire, Randy Johnson and Tom Seaver, died Thursday. He was 91.

Dedeaux headed a thriving trucking business and he once said of his reported $1 annual salary at USC: "I always say everyone gets paid what they're worth. I could cash my check on the bus."

[Bluesteve32]

Dedeaux was a great ambassador to the game of baseball. He coached for a salary of one dollar a season since he ran Dart International. He was also the Amateur baseball advisor to the rules committee. He coached the USA Olympic team in the 1964 and 1984 Olymipcs when it was a demonstration sport.

RIP - Rod Dedeaux.

http://www.usc.edu/uscnews/stories/9345.html

I found this obit:

January 7, 2006
Rod Dedeaux, Who Led U.S.C. to 11 College World Series
Titles, Dies at 91
By RICHARD GOLDSTEIN


Rod Dedeaux, who coached the University of Southern
California to a record 11 College World Series championships
and sent some 60 players to the major leagues, died Thursday
in Glendale, Calif. He was 91.


The cause was complications of a stroke, U.S.C. said.


Dedeaux took the Trojans to a record five consecutive
N.C.A.A. championships, from 1970 to 1974, and he had 41
winning seasons coaching baseball at U.S.C. from 1942 to
1986. A protégé of Casey Stengel, he blended strong
fundamentals with a clowning touch, calling almost everyone
Tiger and insisting that new players wear a ratty red wig as
a rite of initiation.


Dedeaux coached U.S.C. to 1,332 victories with 571 losses
and 11 ties, setting a record for N.C.A.A. Division I
triumphs, which was eclipsed in 1994 by Cliff Gustafson of
Texas. Dedeaux was named College Coach of the Year six times
by the American Baseball Coaches Association. He coached the
United States national team to an unofficial silver medal in
the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics when baseball was a
demonstration sport.


Dedeaux's players at U.S.C. included the Hall of Fame
pitcher Tom Seaver, Mark McGwire, Randy Johnson, Fred Lynn,
Dave Kingman, Bill Lee, Ron Fairly and Steve Kemp. Sparky
Anderson, the Hall of Fame manager, was a batboy for U.S.C.
under Dedeaux.


Dedeaux drew upon the numerous U.S.C. players who went on to
the major leagues as a recruiting network. He stressed
heads-up play, and once observed, "If you learn to do the
right thing all the time, it doesn't matter one bit who
you're playing."


But he coached with a light touch. "I'm a ham at heart," he
said. "When we work, we work hard as hell. But we have fun,
too. A little clowning helps."


Dedeaux said he patterned himself after Stengel, a longtime
friend, observing how "I never had any trouble understanding
Case."


Raoul Martial Dedeaux (pronounced DAY-dough) was born in New
Orleans on Feb. 17, 1914, but he grew up in Southern
California, played baseball at Hollywood High School, then
became the shortstop and captain at U.S.C. Stengel, who was
managing the Brooklyn Dodgers in the mid-1930's while living
in the Los Angeles area during the off-season, first spotted
Dedeaux as a high school player, then signed him for the
Dodgers' organization for a $1,500 bonus after he graduated
in 1935.


But a back injury in the minor leagues that summer curtailed
Dedeaux's playing career. He appeared in two games for the
Dodgers at shortstop in 1935, then played in the Pacific
Coast League, never making it back to the major leagues.


When Dedeaux's former coach at U.S.C., Sam Barry, entered
the Navy in 1942, Dedeaux took over the coaching job, and he
held it through the end of World War II. He served as
co-coach with Barry from 1946 to 1950.


While coaching at U.S.C., Dedeaux also ran a trucking firm,
Dart International, which he founded in 1938 to haul canned
goods and produce in Southern California. It eventually
expanded operations to other states.


Dedeaux's trademark was a red wig he had kept from his days
as a senior at Hollywood High, and he insisted that every
new player at U.S.C. wear it in public while singing
"McNamara's Band." After victories, the entire team sang
"McNamara's Band" in the clubhouse.


"My turn came in the San Francisco airport," Seaver told
George Vecsey of The New York Times in 1981. "I wore the wig
and put shaving cream on my face and sang like crazy."


Dedeaux was of French descent, but he once remarked, "I
guess I'm a frustrated Irishman."


When Dedeaux stepped down as U.S.C. coach, he took an
administrative position as the university's director of
baseball. The Trojans' baseball field is named for him.


He is survived by his wife, Helen; his sons Justin and
Terry; his daughters Michele and Denise; and nine
grandchildren.


Amid all the winning strategy over more than four decades,
Dedeaux - in the mold of his mentor - could sometimes be
hard to understand.


"A lot of Stengel rubbed off on Rod," U.S.C. quoted Fairly
as saying once. "He could call a kid into his office for 10
or 15 minutes and the kid could come out feeling pretty good
about himself, even if he had no idea what Rod had said."

[runningshoes]

Huge loss. RIP Rod, you earned it.