Death Of A Salesman
That is what Ron Dedeaux was. He sold his baseball players on his program and on themselves, and as a result, his USC baseball teams won 11 National Titles during his tenure. His imprint on baseball rivals that of John Wooden on basketball. Tom Seaver, Mark McGwire, Randy Johnson, Bill "Spaceman" Lee, Dave Kingman, Ron Fairly, Fred Lynn, Roy Smalley, Don Buford, Rich Dauer, Steve Busby, Jim Barr, and Steve Kemp are some of the players he had a hand in developing, not to mention Sparky Anderson andTommy Lasorda as managers. Truly one of the great baseball managers of all time. Godspeed to you, "Tiger".
posted by stewdog | 9:54 AM | Permalink
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2 comments
2 Comments:
I played against Rod Dedeaux's Trojans twice a year, each year from 1957 to 1961. Never posted a W, but we were always treated with respect by Dedeaux and his teams, who treated us like we were the Yankees coming to play. Got that "Tiger" appellation laid on me many times and proud of it. Strangely, he turned me into a USC football fan when I had not been one before.
Great story, Canine of the Summit. The Coach seems to have had that rare gift of making everyone with whom he came in contact feel important. I'm sure that there are hundreds of similar stories of lives favorably touched by this man. Fight on, Tiger.
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