When it comes to humility, Orem Owlz first basemen Frazier Hall could write the book, though he never would. It’s not that he can’t write or tell a story, because he can. Hall just isn’t the kind of guy to toot his own horn, despite the numerous accomplishments he has achieved playing baseball.
When asked about his accomplishments on the baseball field, Hall minimized those. Instead, he chose to express his gratitude to God for his physical talents that allow him to play a game he loves with some of the most talented guys he has ever met.
“I feel that God has given me a talent and I want to use it in the right manner,” Hall said.
For Hall, part of using that talent in the right manner takes him to youth baseball camps, where he volunteers his time teaching kids and speaking about baseball.
“Doing anything I can to give back is something that I’ve always wanted to do,” Hall said.
Hall, who was raised a Christian, attended Southern University in Louisiana. During his time there, he saw that many of his fellow athletes were new to the area and hadn’t found a church to worship at. This motivated Hall to organize a chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA), a non-profit interdenominational ministry.
“I looked around for an FCA and couldn’t find one,” Hall said. “In the beginning of my senior year, I reached out to the head football coach to see if I could borrow their meeting room. I took the Tony Clayton Meeting Facility that we had and on Tuesday nights we had an FCA chapter meeting.”
Hall enjoys his associations with other athletes, but he also sees fans as being an important part of the game. Before he was drafted by the Angels, Hall played in a collegiate summer league for the Waterloo Bucks. During his time there he made friends with a fan named Tony, who came to every home game.
Tony was in his early forties and had autism.
“Tony and I would hang out every day before games, and I would toss the ball with him,” Hall said. “Sometimes after the games he would need a ride home, so my roommate and I would bring him home. I started to hang out with Tony and got to know him really well.”
Hall later went on to play for a different team in the same league. He returned to Waterloo playing for the Lacrosse Loggers. In his first at-bat, he hit a homerun that resulted in the Waterloo fans giving him a standing ovation, a gesture not often awarded to visiting players in any sport.
“That was really nice,” said Hall. “I’m just hanging out with Tony, and they saw that overtime and appreciated it.”
Hall says it is the fans that motivate him and give him encouragement even when he plays poorly. It is a sentiment that fans of any sport love to hear from pro athletes. To Hall, however, it is more than something that sounds nice – it’s something he believes and demonstrates through his actions on and off the field.
“It’s an honor to be able to be able to play this game,” Hall said. “It’s an honor to have fans come out and watch me. It’s an honor to play professional baseball.”
I am Frazier’s Dad… and I believe that Frazier’s character was refined when his older brother (Ben) was faced with the possibilities of never walking or talking, as result of a brain tumor in the left temporal lobe.
There is a happy ending to the “Ben story”… what was originally thought to be advanced stages of cancer ended up being a rare and benign tumor that robbed Ben of all his short term memory, half of his word bank and part of his control systems.
Frazier refused to accepted the “doom and gloom” of what medical and educational professionals were telling our family about Ben. Frazier made it his personal mission to support his brother’s to return to normalcy.
The happy ending is that Ben returned to the classroom, the gridiron and went on to play college football. He is now an offensive coordinator at a high school in Baton Rouge. Ben has ambitions to coach beyond…
The rest of what I “Commented” on… too wordy.
Ben has ambitions to coach beyond high school at the major college level. Ben is currently applying for “GA” positions at a variety of schools.
Frazier outreach to “Tony” (…the man from Waterloo that was in his “early forties and had autism”) was because it was the “right thing” to do… something that I believe that he learned when he supported his brother Ben.
We need more like Frazier. Keep it up.
And well done, Jake (who wrote the piece).