The late Beta Phi Frank Sancet ’31 was inducted into the College Baseball Hall of Fame on June 30, 2012 in Lubbock, Texas.
He joined six other ballplayers to be inducted including major leaguers Lou Brock and Nomar Garciaparra. UA coach Jerry Kindall and player Terry Francona also are in the Hall.
Sancet’s grandson, Hank Rowe, told a Tucson Citizen blogger that his grandfather would be genuinely appreciative but he would deflect the praise.
“My grandfather would be very gracious, but also very humbled,” said Rowe, who teaches social studies at Coronado Middle School in Tucson. “He would have relished the opportunity to be with his players and to credit them for putting him in that position.”
Thirteen members of the Sancet family attended the ceremony.
“Pop” McKale brought Sancet to the University of Arizona in 1947 as assistant baseball coach. He also was backfield coach for football, freshman football coach and freshman basketball coach during those early years. In 1950, he took over for Pop as head baseball coach and went on to distinguish himself over the next 23 seasons, leading the baseball Wildcats to four conference championships and 10 trips to the College World Series.
Frank brought Arizona baseball a national reputation for excellence. He coached 28 All-Americans and 66 of his players signed professional contracts. He retired as the second-winningest coach in the history of college baseball with a record of 832 wins, 238 losses and eight ties.
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