Posted on: Sunday, August 1, 2004
Frazier has ingredients to be successful chef
By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist
On the track in the 1976 Olympics, Herman Frazier could glance across the lanes and see the formidable form of Alberto Juantorena of Cuba, whose long, powerful strides had earned the nickname of El Caballo (the horse).
Except for Juantorena, whom he would see in both the 400 meter and 4x400 relay finals, and a handful of others, the then-21-year-old Frazier had few major concerns or responsibilities that summer in Montreal.
"All I had to worry about was myself," said Frazier, who took the bronze to Juantorena's gold in the 400, and helped the U.S. to the gold in the relay.
But when he arrives in Athens today, there will be more than the burden of medal aspirations on the squared shoulders of the 49-year-old University of Hawai'i-Manoa athletic director. For this Olympiad, as the Chef de Mission, he will be the leader of the 531-member United States team plus support personnel and officials, everybody from trainers to athletes, and all the responsibility that confers.
"The chef is in charge of every aspect of the team," Frazier said. "He is the spokesman for the team and handles communication, discipline issues, etc." He will have two offices in Athens, one in the Olympic village and the other on a ship anchored offshore, and a library of manuals to stock them with. He will have a staff and no end to concerns.
For 31 days, until his scheduled return to the office in the athletic department in time for the beginning of the volleyball and football seasons, everything from drug testing to terrorism will be his daily concern at these most-watched Olympics.
Though friends have kiddingly given him large, billowy kitchen chef hats like the one pinned to a corner bulletin board in his UH office, the weight of the real position is never far from his thoughts.
Running a 19-sport UH athletic program, even with its own special challenges, may seem like a fond memory. His days as an Olympic athlete even more so.
"When I was running, that was (just) on me," Frazier said. "It was on me and I could control it. If I screwed up, it was just on me.
"But on this (Olympics), you are involved with everything, and I take all of that very seriously. The last thing you want to do is not submit the right information for an athlete (something) that takes her or him out of their competition. The last thing you want to do is deal with a behavioral situation and make the wrong decision."
The chances of that would seem to be exceedingly small, considering how the past 32 years have helped shape and prepare Frazier for this assignment. In that time, he has either been an athlete or held an official position in U.S. athletics. Until June, he had been a two-term vice-president of the USOC, and has previously served as Chef de Mission at the 1999 Pan American Games and as assistant chef for the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.
Athens will be something of an Olympic swan song for Frazier, who, after the Games' completion, will be without a position in either the USOC or USA Track & Field for the first time since 1980.
In earlier years, the Chef de Mission could have been a stepping stone to the chairmanship of the USOC. But under pressure by Congress for reform, the USOC has overhauled itself, installing Peter Ueberroth as chairman of an 11-member board in June.
Now, once the flame is out in Athens, Frazier returns to UH, although advisory or lower level committee USOC or track work may eventually come his way.
In the meantime, by his count, Frazier has been to Athens four times in the past 2 1/2 years, and has been involved in 18 months of painstaking preparation for his role there. But when a visitor suggests he might just about have things wired, Frazier quips, "We don't use the word 'wired' about Athens." Spoken like a man on a mission.
Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.
Simply put, Frazier is the liaison among the International Olympic Committee, the Athens Organizing Committee and the U.S. team, if such arrangements are ever simple.
