(WNY News Now) – From thrilling softball rivalries to NCAA coaching victories, Ron Frederes’ multifaceted career in sports left an indelible mark on Chautauqua County and beyond.
Fast-pitch softball was an extremely popular sport in Chautauqua County in the 1970s. There were hundreds of teams from the north county to the south county with many outstanding players in the lineups. Fast-pitch softball was also a very popular spectator sport for area enthusiasts.
One rivalry that particularly drew much interest was See-Zurh House.v. Stravato’s Grill. Newspaper accounts reported crowds in excess of a thousand fans came to witness See-Zurh/Stravato’s games that featured the match-up between pitching aces, Ron “Redman” Frederes of See-Zurh House and Jim Adamczak of Stravato’s Grill.
Both men are inductees of the Western New York Softball Hall of Fame and now the Chautauqua Sports Hall of Fame.
Besides numerous league titles, tournament championships, no-hitters and perfect games, a highlight for Ron and his See-Zurh House teammates was earning a 1-1 tie with Eddie Feigner of King and his Court fame. Among other softball teams for which he toed the rubber were Strom’s Grill, Chautauqua Hardware, Hungry Horse (Salamanca) and Big Ron’s (Olean).
Ron Frederes was a 1963 graduate of Jamestown High School where he was a three-sport athlete in football, basketball and baseball. He continued playing the same sports at Brockport State, from which he graduated in 1967. While earning a Master’s Degree at the University of North Carolina in 1968, he served as a graduate assistant for the Tar Heel basketball squad under legendary coach Dean Smith.
After one year of teaching in Orlando, Fla., he was hired as a teacher at Southwestern Central. He was the Trojans varsity baseball coach and the JV basketball coach from 1969-1976. That was followed by a two-year stint as the basketball and tennis coach at Davidson Community College in Lexington, N. C. His DCC basketball squad qualified for the NJCAA regional tournament both years.
The next stop on Ron’s coaching career was at Alfred University from 1978 to 1990. He led the Saxons to 2 Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament berths and 2 appearances in the NCAA Division III eastern Regional Tourney. The Olean Times-Herald sports department chose Frederes as its Man of the Year in 1986. He still holds the distinction of having the most coaching wins in AU basketball history and his teams and players are still prominent in the Alfred record books.
He was also the head tennis coach and assistant Athletic Director during his tenure at Alfred.
After leaving Alfred in 1990, he became the head basketball coach at Walsh University, a NAIA Division II school in North Canton, Ohio. He took the Cavaliers to the NAIA tournament both seasons he was there.
His “dream job” came in 1993, when Jamestown High principal Jim McElrath (CSHOF inductee 2012) called Frederes and offered him the head basketball job at his hometown high school. Averaging over 15 wins per season during his 5 seasons at his alma mater, he had the good fortune to coach Red Raiders standouts Justin Johnson and Maceo Wofford, both CSHOF inductees.
Retired from teaching and coaching, Frederes lives in Clayton, N. C.
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