Wayne Graham facts for kids
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Graham with Rice in 2006
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| Biographical details | |||
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| Born | April 6, 1936 Yoakum, Texas, U.S. |
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| Died | September 3, 2024 (aged 88) Austin, Texas, U.S. |
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| Playing career | |||
| 1956–1957 | Texas | ||
| Position(s) | Third base/Outfield | ||
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |||
| 1971–1979 | Scarborough HS (TX) | ||
| 1980 | Spring Branch HS (TX) | ||
| 1981–1991 | San Jacinto College | ||
| 1992–2018 | Rice | ||
| Head coaching record | |||
| Overall | 1,173–528–2 | ||
| Accomplishments and honors | |||
| Championships | |||
| College World Series (2003) 5 NJCAA World Series (1985–1987, 1989, 1990) 7 C-USA tournament (2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2017) 9 C-USA regular season (2006–2008, 2010–2015) 3 WAC tournament (1997–1999) 9 WAC regular season (1997–2005) SWC tournament (1996) |
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| Awards | |||
| Baseball America Coach of the Year (1999) 5x C-USA Coach of the Year (2006–2008, 2010, 2012) 5x WAC Coach of the Year (1998, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2005) |
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| College Baseball Hall of Fame Inducted in 2012 |
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Baseball career |
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| Third baseman | |||
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| debut | |||
| April 10, 1963, for the Philadelphia Phillies | |||
| Last appearance | |||
| October 4, 1964, for the New York Mets | |||
| MLB statistics | |||
| Games played | 30 | ||
| Plate appearances | 58 | ||
| Batting average | .127 | ||
| Teams | |||
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Wayne Leon Graham (April 6, 1936 – September 3, 2024) was a famous American baseball coach. He led the Rice Owls baseball team in Houston to a national championship. Before that, he also won five championships with junior college teams. Graham was also a professional baseball player for the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Mets.
Contents
Early Life and Baseball Beginnings
Wayne Graham was born in Yoakum, Texas. His family moved to Houston when he was young. His father, Earl, coached a semi-pro baseball team called Finger Furniture. Young Wayne was the batboy for this team in 1945. This was his first taste of baseball.
Playing Baseball Professionally
Wayne Graham went to Reagan High School in Houston. He played college baseball at the University of Texas for two seasons.
In 1957, the Philadelphia Phillies signed Graham as a player. He played professional baseball for eleven years. He was part of the Phillies and New York Mets organizations. In 1962, he was named the Texas minor league player of the year. This was because he hit for a very good average of .311 for the Dallas-Fort Worth Rangers.
Graham played a few games in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the early 1960s. In 1963, he played ten games for the Phillies. In 1964, he played twenty games for the New York Mets. In his short MLB career, he hit for a .127 average in 55 tries.
Coaching Career Highlights
When his playing days were over, Graham went back to college. He earned a degree in physical education in 1970. Later, he got a master's degree in education in 1973.
Coaching High School Teams
Graham started his coaching career at Scarborough High School in Houston. He coached there for nine seasons. Then, he coached for one year at Spring Branch High School. After that, he moved on to coach college baseball.
Success at San Jacinto College
In 1981, Graham became the coach at San Jacinto College in Houston. He quickly made San Jacinto one of the best junior college baseball teams. His teams started winning conference titles regularly.
From 1984, the San Jacinto Gators became very strong. They had seven years in a row where they won 50 or more games. They also made it to the NJCAA World Series in Grand Junction, Colorado, every year.
After losing in the 1984 championship game, San Jacinto won three national titles in a row (1985, 1986, 1987). After a tough loss in 1988, the Gators won two more titles back-to-back (1989, 1990). Winning five national titles in six years was amazing! Because of this, Graham was named the Junior College Coach of the Century.
During his 11 seasons at San Jacinto, Graham had an incredible record of 675 wins and only 113 losses. He won five national coach of the year awards. Many of his players went on to play professionally, including famous pitchers like Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte.
Building a Powerhouse at Rice University
In 1992, Graham took over the baseball program at Rice University. Before him, the team had only seven winning seasons in 78 years. Graham changed everything. He turned Rice into a national baseball powerhouse.
Under Graham, Rice made it to the NCAA Division I baseball tournament for 23 years in a row (1995–2017). They also won 20 straight conference championships (1996–2015). Rice also reached the College World Series seven times (1997, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007, and 2008).
Graham's biggest achievement at Rice was winning the 2003 College World Series. This was Rice University's first national championship in any sport in its 91-year history! After the win, Graham famously said, "We want to do it again."
On April 16, 2016, Graham won his 1,100th Division I game. He had more than 1,600 wins as a college head coach overall. Graham also played a big part in getting Reckling Park, Rice's on-campus baseball stadium, built in 2000.
In 2004, three Rice pitchers were chosen among the first eight picks in the 2004 Major League Baseball Draft. This was the only time three teammates were picked so early in the first round. Graham's Rice teams produced many first-round draft picks. He was especially good at helping players who were not drafted out of high school become top talents.
In 2017, Rice finished 6th in their conference. To make it to the NCAA tournament, they had to win the Conference USA tournament. Graham led the Owls to win four games in a row. They won the championship game with a dramatic walk-off double. This kept their streak of NCAA tournament appearances alive.
Graham never had a losing season as a high school or college coach until his very last season at Rice in 2018. His contract was not renewed after that year.
Death
Wayne Graham passed away in Austin, Texas, on September 3, 2024. He was 88 years old.
See also
- List of college baseball coaches with 1,100 wins
