Wayne Frazier was arguably Conecuh County's most accomplished athlete

Evergreen's Wayne Frazier.

As hard as it is to believe, yesterday (Wednesday) marked the eight-year anniversary of the death of the man who was arguably Conecuh County’s most accomplished athlete.

Many of you will remember that Evergreen’s Wayne Frazier passed away at the age of 73 on March 11, 2012, and many of you remember his football playing days at Evergreen High School, Auburn University and the NFL. Frazier, who was nicknamed “Cotton,” was a force to be reckoned with on the football field and was one of only a few football players who could say that they started in the very first Super Bowl.

After a stellar high school career at Evergreen High School and several standout seasons at Auburn University, Frazier played four seasons as a center in the AFL. He started his career with the San Diego Chargers and was later traded to the Houston Oilers. He went on to play for the Buffalo Bills and ended his career with the Kansas City Chiefs.

In 1966, Frazier and the Chiefs won the AFC championship, which earned them a spot in the very first Super Bowl.

The first Super Bowl was played on Jan. 15, 1967 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles. The Chiefs played the Green Bay Packers. Other famous football players and coaches who participated in that game included Bill Curry, Jerry Kramer, Bart Starr, Jim Taylor, Buck Buchanan, Ray Nitschke, Hank Stram and Vince Lombardi.

It’s said that when the players’ names were announced over the loudspeaker that day during the pre-game introductions, that Frazier’s name happened to be the very first one called out. If you stop and think about that, it’s pretty cool that a guy from Evergreen was the first player introduced at the very first Super Bowl.

After his playing days, Frazier coached high school football for a while, including a four-year stint at W.S. Neal High School in East Brewton. From 1980 to 1983, he posted three winning seasons, finishing with a 23-17 overall record during that time.

Fans of The Courant’s regular Sports Flashback feature will know that Frazier’s name is a regular in that weekly column. Frazier’s name appeared in the paper frequently over the years, and I suspect that the only name that showed up more was his former football coach, Wendell Hart. For those of you who knew Hart, that’s not bad company to be in.

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A good sports-related question from one of The Courant’s readers landed in my e-mail inbox this week, and it’s probably a question that some of you have asked yourself while watching major league baseball on television.

Arthur from Evergreen sent in the following question this week: My son brought home a pack of baseball cards the other day. I haven’t looked at the back of a baseball card in years and was confused by some of the abbreviations they are using on the back of them these days. What the heck does “OPS” and “WHIP” mean? I’ve seen them used on TV some too. What do they stand for?

OK, Arthur. Bear with me. The explanation for OPS, which is short for “On-base plus Slugging Percentage,” is kind of complicated.

As the name for the stat implies, to get a player’s OPS, you add the player’s on-base percentage and slugging percentage.

All of the above begs the question: How do you determine a player’s on-base percentage (OBP) and slugging percentage (SLG)?

To get a player’s OBP, you divide the player’s total number of hits, walks and times hit by a pitch by the player’s total number of at-bats, walks, times hit by a pitch and sacrifice flies. To get a player’s slugging percentage, you divide the number of total bases recorded by the batter by the player’s total number of at-bats.

At-bats (AB) are a tricky stat in itself, and it’s definitely not the same thing as how many trips a batter makes to the plate. A hitter is credited with an official at-bat when he either makes an out (unless he hits a sacrifice bunt or sac fly), or reaches base on a base hit, a fielding error or on a fielder’s choice. A batter isn’t charged with an at-bat if he gets walked or is hit by a pitch or reaches base due to interference by the catcher.

WHIP is short for “Walks plus Hits per Innings Pitched.” This stat only applies to pitchers. To figure a pitcher’s WHIP, divide the total number of hits and walks allowed by the pitcher by the total number of innings the pitcher has pitched.

Got a good sports-related question you’d like for me to look into? E-mail it to me, and I’ll see if I can’t track down an answer.