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Dutch Fehring

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Dutch Fehring
Fehring, circa 1948
President of FEMBA
In office
September 8, 1973 – August 31, 1975
Preceded byJuan Isa
(as president of FIBA)
Succeeded byCarlos García Solórzano
Personal details
Born(1912-05-31)May 31, 1912
Columbus, Indiana, U.S.
DiedApril 13, 2006(2006-04-13) (aged 93)
Palo Alto, California, U.S.
Alma materPurdue University
Coaching career
Playing career
Football
1931–1933Purdue
Basketball
1931–1934Purdue
Baseball
1932–1934Purdue
Position(s)Tackle (football)
Catcher (baseball)
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
Football
1935–1942Purdue (assistant)
1947Oklahoma (assistant)
1948UCLA (assistant)
1949–1967Stanford (assistant)
Baseball
1936–1942Purdue
1949–1955Stanford (assistant)
1956–1967Stanford
Head coaching record
Overall374–248–9
Accomplishments and honors
Awards
Baseball career
Catcher
Batted: Both
Threw: Right
MLB debut
June 25, 1934, for the Chicago White Sox
Last MLB appearance
June 25, 1934, for the Chicago White Sox
MLB statistics
Batting average.000 (0-for-1)
Games played1
Stats at Baseball Reference Edit this at Wikidata
Teams

William Paul "Dutch" Fehring (May 31, 1912 – April 13, 2006) was an American football and baseball player, coach, and administrator. Fehring was president of the United States Baseball Federation, and oversaw the return of the U.S. national team to international baseball competition. He also briefly led the World Amateur Baseball Federation, better known as FEMBA,[a] during its split from the International Baseball Federation in the early 1970s.

A longtime college baseball coach, he served as the head baseball coach at Purdue University from 1936 to 1942 and at Stanford University from 1956 to 1967, compiling a career record of 374–248–9.

Early life

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Born in Columbus, Indiana, Fehring attended Purdue University, where he starred in football, basketball, and baseball, one of only two Purdue athletes to letter nine times. Fehring helped the Boilermakers win two Big Ten Conference titles in football and a national championship in basketball in 1932, and was the traveling roommate of John Wooden. Fehring was inducted into the inaugural class of the Purdue University Athletic Hall of Fame in 1994.[1]

Baseball career

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After graduating from Purdue, Fehring chose to play his favorite sport, baseball, where he excelled as a catcher. He was signed by the Chicago White Sox and made a single major league appearance, in a road game against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium on July 25, 1934.[2] Fehring entered the game in the bottom of the seventh inning to catch, with the Yankees leading 10–2.[3] During that inning, Lou Gehrig attempted an inside-the-park home run on a ball hit to center field; the ball was relayed to Fehring, who tagged Gehrig out at the plate.[3] Gehrig was credited with a triple on the play;[3] he had already hit a home run, single, and double in the game, thus it became the first time that Gehrig hit for the cycle in his career.[1] Fehring had one at bat during the game, striking out in the ninth inning.[3]

Coaching career

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After his baseball career ended, Fehring returned to Purdue and became their head baseball coach and assistant football coach from 1936 to 1942. After serving in World War II, Fehring was an assistant football coach for two years at Oklahoma and for one year at UCLA, where he recommended his college friend John Wooden for the head basketball coaching vacancy.[1]

Stanford

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In 1949, Fehring was hired as an assistant baseball and football coach at Stanford. He took over as head baseball coach in 1956, and coached for 11 years, culminating in a College World Series semifinals appearance in 1967. Along with his football coaching role in the 1952 Rose Bowl, Fehring has the unique distinction as a coach in both a College World Series and a Rose Bowl.[4]

International baseball

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U.S. national team

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Fehring was an assistant coach on the United States national baseball team that participated in the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo, under manager and USC coach Rod Dedeaux.[5] On the 1964 Olympic team was catcher Jim Hibbs, who played under Fehring at Stanford.

As president of the United States Baseball Federation (USBF), Fehring saw the United States national team return to international stage; its appearance at the 1969 Amateur World Series in the Dominican Republic was the first time the U.S. participated in the tournament since 1942.[6]

FEMBA

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Fehring was highly critical of the International Baseball Federation (FIBA) and its president, Juan Isa. He, like many others, believed that the Caribbean baseball federations had too much control over FIBA's proceedings. "If FIBA is an international federation," he said, "the leadership positions must belong to different countries."[7]

After the 1973 FIBA Congress ended in confusion and chaos, Italy and Nicaragua withdrew from FIBA to organize their own international federation; the USBF soon followed, along with 24 other national federations.[7] Fehring was elected president of the new organization, titled FEMBA (or alternatively, WABAF) on September 8, 1973.[8]

As head of FEMBA, a major priority for Fehring was the inclusion of baseball at the Summer Olympics. This had been a factor in the FEMBA split, as critics of FIBA felt that the federation was too chaotic to pursue Olympic status.[9] Fehring, with the backing of MLB Commissioner Bowie Kuhn, met with International Olympic Committee head Lord Killanin, but was told that would not occur as long as baseball was represented by two different organizations.[7]

Fehring was succeeded as FEMBA president by Carlos García Solórzano in 1975. After the FEMBA-FIBA split was resolved in 1976, he joined the unified committee of AINBA, later the IBAF (the predecessor to the modern World Baseball Softball Confederation). Under IBAF president Robert Smith, Fehring recruited Rod Dedeaux to help the federation gain Olympic status; thanks to Dedeaux and Los Angeles Dodgers owner Peter O'Malley, baseball returned to the Olympics at the 1984 Los Angeles Games.[7]

Later life and honors

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Fehring retired as head baseball coach in 1967, but remained at Stanford as director of intramurals and club sports until 1977. Fehring died in Palo Alto, California, in 2006 at the age of 93.[1]

Fehring is an inductee of the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame, the Indiana Baseball Hall of Fame, the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame, the Purdue University Athletic Hall of Fame, and the Stanford Athletic Hall of Fame.[1]

Head coaching record

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Statistics overview
Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
Purdue Boilermakers (Big Ten Conference) (1936–1942)
1936 Purdue 6–21 1–10 T–8th
1937 Purdue 12–14 2–9 10th
1938 Purdue 14–10 6–5 T–3rd
1939 Purdue 12–8 5–5 6th
1940 Purdue 14–9 2–7 9th
1941 Purdue 15–10–1 4–8 9th
1942 Purdue 11–14 5–7 T–5th
Purdue: 84–86–5 (.494) 25–51 (.329)
Stanford Indians (Pacific Coast Conference) (1956–1959)
1956 Stanford 24–10–1 9–7 3rd (CIBA)
1957 Stanford 17–13 7–9 3rd (CIBA)
1958 Stanford 23–12 7–9 3rd (CIBA)
1959 Stanford 21–13 9–7 3rd (CIBA)
Stanford Indians (Athletic Association of Western Universities) (1960–1967)
1960 Stanford 20–17 6–10 T–3rd (CIBA)
1961 Stanford 26–17 5–11 T–4th (CIBA)
1962 Stanford 21–14 6–10 4th (CIBA)
1963 Stanford 24–11 8–8 4th (CIBA)
1964 Stanford 20–24 4–16 6th (CIBA)
1965 Stanford 32–13 11–9 1st (CIBA)
1966 Stanford 26–12–2 12–8 T–2nd (CIBA)
1967 Stanford 36–6–1 10–1 1st College World Series
Stanford: 290–162–4 (.640) 94–105 (.472)
"ARMADURA Z29 HELMET ARMOR Z29" by OSCAR CREATIVO

Total:		 374–248–9 (.600)

      National champion         Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

Notes

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  1. ^ Spanish: Federación Mundial de Béisbol Amateur

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Rutter, Jim (May 9, 2006). "Dutch Fehring (1912–2006)". The Bootleg Magazine. Archived from the original on March 24, 2007. Retrieved February 28, 2007.
  2. ^ "Dutch Fehring". Retrosheet. Retrieved August 16, 2020.
  3. ^ a b c d "New York Yankees 13, Chicago White Sox 2". Retrosheet. June 25, 1934. Retrieved August 16, 2020.
  4. ^ "Former Stanford Coach Dutch Fehring Passes Away" (Press release). Stanford Athletics Department. April 14, 2006. Archived from the original on January 20, 2013. Retrieved February 26, 2007.
  5. ^ "Olympic Rosters in NCAA Title Sports" (PDF). NCAA News. Vol. 1, no. 4. September–October 1964. p. 4. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 24, 2012 – via Wayback Machine.
  6. ^ "La Historia de los Campeonatos Mundiales". El Pelotero (in Spanish). Retrieved February 25, 2024.
  7. ^ a b c d Schiroli, Riccardo (2012). "L'Europa ha un ruolo centrale nel baseball internazionale degli anni '70". The Game We Love: La storia della IBAF (in Italian).
  8. ^ "Timeline". WBSC.org. World Baseball Softball Confederation.
  9. ^ "NEW WORLD AMATEUR BASEBALL FEDERATION WAS NECESSARY by R. Panaye" (PDF). Baseball Mercury (6): 3. May 1974.

Further reading

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  • Tellis, Richard (1998). Once Around the Bases: Bittersweet Memories of Only One Game in the Majors. Triumph Books. pp. 12–20. ISBN 1572432772.
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