Larry Frazier’s love for tennis came after seeing Arthur Ashe win the 1970 Australian Tennis Open, and the 1975 U.S. Tennis Open Championships. Arthur Ashe became the first black to do so as a Kappa man. Larry started playing tennis while working on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. In 1977 and 1978 he played club tennis for Morgan State University under Coach Brutus Wilson, member of American Tennis Association—the oldest African American sports organization—for over 20 years. Larry obtained a Bachelor’s of Science degree from Morgan in 1980.
In 1984 Larry was hired by the late Athletic Director Earl Banks to start up the new men’s and women’s tennis programs since Morgan Athletics was moving from NCAA Division ll to Division l. His goal
was to have a program that would give young black men and women the opportunity to get a college education. Larry recruited student-athletes that would get an education and represent the University well. For the next (12) years he worked hard to achieve this goal alongside his colleagues. What a ride it was! Ninety-eight (98%) of our tennis student-athletes received a college degree. Many went on to become doctors, lawyers, nurses, teachers, and other professionals. Larry had the opportunity to work with two of the best Assistant Coaches he could ever ask for, Mr. Kevin Edwards and Mr. Sean Hendricks.
The men’s tennis team had some great players! Some of the featured players were: Tracy Sylvester, Michael Austin, Jermaine Thomas, Mark Bean, Jason Scott, Lonnie Greene, Sean Hendricks, Charles Jones, and Isadora Iforiniee. Isadora became a Tennis Professional at Cat Tails Creek Country Club.
The women’s team featured Delise O’Meally, one of the top all-time tennis athletes in the history of MEAC. She was also voted NCAA Women’s Athlete of the Year in 1992, and a member of Morgan State Athletic Hall of Fame. Other women’s tennis players include: Lisa Downing, Reba Hawkins, Tammy Johnson, Stacy Oakman, Belinda Cooper. The 1994 MEAC Women’s Tennis Team Champions was led by Senior Miranda Wright, Junior Krystal Jones, and Freshmen Andrea Ledet, Tania Robinson, Kim Napier Hall, Mia-Lin Cooper Rollon, and Kadijah Lucy Sengova.
Larry was Head Men and Women’s Tennis Coach of Morgan State University from 1984 to 1996. In 1994, he was named MEAC Women’s Tennis Coach of the Year. In 1996, Larry retired from coaching tennis at Morgan State University. He is truly grateful for the experience and relationships he formed while being tennis coach at Morgan State University. They will forever be in his memories.
Larry has been married to the former Vanessa George for 43 years. They have 3 boys: Kaleem and Jennifer, Jamal and Sarah, Ian and Alicia, and 4 grandchildren; Nathaniel, Kristal, Xander, and Yadier. Professionally, Larry retired from Kraft Foods and the State of Maryland. He now spends his days spoiling his wife, playing golf and going to church.
