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News Nuggets, 01.06.06
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College baseball icon Rod Dedeaux dead at 91

LOS ANGELES — Rod Dedeaux, who coached Southern California to a record 11 NCAA baseball championships and turned out a parade of future major leaguers, died Thursday. He was 91.

Dedeaux, who coached the Trojans for 45 years before retiring in 1986, died in suburban Glendale of complications from a stroke that he had on Dec. 2, the school said.

Nearly 60 USC players under Dedeaux went on to big league careers, including Mark McGwire, Randy Johnson, Tom Seaver, Dave Kingman, Fred Lynn and Roy Smalley.

Dedeaux had a record of 1,332-571-11, the most wins in Division I history until Cliff Gustafson of Texas surpassed him in 1994. He had a winning percentage of .699.

"A giant has passed away," said USC athletic director and 1965 Heisman Trophy winner Mike Garrett, also an outfielder for Dedeaux. "It leaves a huge void in all of baseball."

The Trojans' national championships included five in a row from 1970-74 — no other school has won more than two straight — and they won 28 conference titles under him. A number of baseball publications named Dedeaux "Coach of the Century."

"Rod not only was college baseball's greatest coach, he was the sport's and USC's greatest ambassador," said current USC baseball coach Mike Gillespie, an outfielder on Dedeaux's 1961 national championship team.

Former Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tom Lasorda said he and Dedeaux were "real good buddies" for 43 years.

"I'll cherish the days that I spent with him and traveled with him," Lasorda said Thursday night. "He was my mentor, he was my idol, and he was my friend."

Dedeaux played three seasons for Southern California and appeared in two games at shortstop for the 1935 Brooklyn Dodgers, going 1-for-4 with an RBI. A back injury ended his career several years later.

In recent years, Dedeaux walked with the aid of a cane shaped like a baseball bat that had the signatures of several Hall of Famers.

Dedeaux was a frequent visitor to Trojans' games at the field named in his honor in recent years, attended every College World Series since retiring, and was a regular at Dodger Stadium. With a mischievous twinkle in his eye, he called almost everyone "Tiger."

He took pride in more than just winning.

"To be a success as a baseball player is fun, but it's another thing to be a success in life," he once said. "We have all sorts of success stories — lawyers, businessmen — and they say that playing baseball here was an important time of their lives."

Dedeaux's teams were known for late-inning rallies, and for having fun while they played. Rookies had to take turns wearing a red wig on road trips.

"It was a fun tradition," Seaver said.

Dedeaux donned the wig once as a disguise.

"I got thrown out of a game — for one of the few times," he said. "I went back and got the wig and a pair of sunglasses and sat in the stands. Everybody was laughing up a storm, and the umpire was looking around trying to figure out what was going on. He never did."

Dedeaux also helped in the development of amateur baseball in the United States and overseas and lent his expertise to Hollywood, serving as technical director and consultant for the baseball movies "Field of Dreams" and "A League of Their Own."

He founded Dart Transportation, Inc., in the 1930s and it grew into a million-dollar trucking business. He continued to show up for work daily until recently.

He is survived by his wife, Helen; sons Justin and Terry; daughters Michele and Denise; and nine grandchildren, including current USC baseball player Adam Dedeaux.

Funeral details were pending. A memorial service at Dedeaux Field will be held next spring.

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