Thursday, April 13, 2017

Friday Night Habit - Mike, Pat, Tim, Tom - 4441, 4442, 4443, and 4444



Chain Linked By Wendy Hinman

The Frazee brothers have been working the Carlsbad High School football sidelines for more than 25 years. This Lancer tradition has kept one of Carlsbad’s first families…Chain Linked.


Working on the chain gang wasn’t their idea. Like a real chain gang they were volunteered. High school football chain gangs used to get paid like the refs. When that changed the Carlsbad football coaches were scratching their heads about who would do the job. Mama Frazee worked in the cafeteria and over heard them. “My boys will do it” was how Tim Frazee paraphrased his mother’s offer to help. Whether you read the word ‘will’ as leaning toward the boys’ enthusiasm or Polly’s possessive pronoun depends on how well you know the persuasive powers of Polly Frazee.

The job grew on the Frazee brothers. Growing up half a block from Krcmar Field (When Coach Swede Krcmar was in his glory days) they already had a Friday night habit. Carlsbad was a small town then and the high school football game was sometimes the biggest thing going. On homecoming, “The whole town would stop for the parade,” Mike Frazee said. Even if you didn’t attend the high school, the football game was a city thing to do.

In their own high school years, the Frazees were one of those CHS dynastic families. For almost 15 years there was one Frazee or another at CHS. Their Carlsbad roots are some of the deepest. They are Marrons (and Romos) on their mother’s side. (The Marrons held the original Spanish land grant for what is now most of Carlsbad). And Osuñas on the Frazee side. The Frazee side being responsible for a lot of flowers in Carlsbad. Their family tree is historically mind-boggling.

Large families are often pigeon-holed by the oldest child’s achievements, but none of the succeeding Frazees had a problem filling the shadow cast by Mike. Though the family brand was sports, only Carolyn, the lone Frazee sister, was voted most athletic. Mike was Best Looking among the Lancer Laurels. Tim was Biggest Flirt. Tom got Car of the Year. But it was Carolyn who won the Iron Lancer her senior year in 1981. Carolyn was a four-year letterman in three sports; the baby of the Frazee family seemed to be saving the best for last.


For the rest of the story and photos