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ATHLETIC HALL OF FAME

FORD C. FRICK '15

Inducted: 1989

Ford Frick played baseball at DePauw and went on to become one of the most dominant figures in the history of professional baseball. In 1935 he was elected president of the National League, and from 1951 to 1965 he served as the third commissioner of Major League Baseball. He was the first man elected to that office from within baseball's ranks. He was nationally recognized for his contributions to the game of baseball. He conceived the idea of the Baseball Hall of Fame and was subsequently elected to the Hall in 1970. Following graduation from DePauw, Frick lived in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he was a partner in an advertising agency and taught English at Colorado College. He also played semi-professional baseball and did some free-lance newspaper reporting. He became a reporter for the New York American and later moved into sports writing and sports broadcasting at WOR in New York City before beginning his career in baseball administration. He served as national president of the DePauw Alumni Association from 1938 to 1941 and in that capacity helped establish the DePauw Alumni Fund in 1940. The University honored Frick with the Old Gold Goblet in 1952 and the honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters in 1955.