Jul 23, 2016 6 min read

When Lee Fritz sees summer workout sessions at a high school football field, he can’t help but wonder if some of those student-athletes feel the same way he did about voluntary get-togethers during his standout career at Waynesburg High School.

“We put in a lot of work during my high school years,” said Fritz, 33, a doctor of physical therapy who lives in Moon Township with his wife and high school sweetheart, Sara, and sons Jackson, 5, and Austin, 3. “In the summertime, that’s when I really wanted to be with that group of guys. From November to August, that’s when you really put the work in. We’d stay after practice and run routes. We’d hang out after practice. I loved everything about it.”

The extra work led to exemplary results during what was, arguably, the golden era of athletics at Waynesburg. And Fritz, along with longtime best friend and classmate Lanfer Simpson, were the unquestioned headliners of a standout group.

Few from the school – Pro Football Hall of Famer Bill George, NCAA wrestling champion and professional MMA fighter Josh Koscheck and Olympic bronze-medal winning wrestler Coleman Scott aside – crafted a larger legacy than Fritz, a multisport athlete whose teams always made extended postseason runs.

“Lee Fritz is the ultimate winner. I’ve never been around a bigger winner than he was,” said Russ Moore, Fritz’s football coach at Waynesburg. “The reason Lee was as good as he was, is because he wanted to get better every day. He never thought he couldn’t get better.”

That’s hard to imagine considering Fritz’s individual success on some of Waynesburg’s best teams and as a key member of the West Virginia University baseball team.

In football, Waynesburg did not lose a regular season game from 1998-2000 and Fritz, who compiled a 25-2 record as a starting quarterback, was a primary reason.

As a sophomore in 1998, he intercepted 13 passes, including a game-saving pick in the final seconds of the regular-season finale against Wash High. Both teams entered the game unbeaten.

“The play before, their quarterback (Brent) Marstellar had a big run and they were in position to score,” Fritz said. “I knew Mike Sutton was their go-to guy in the passing game, and I saw him cut across in front of me. I’ve taken a lot of chances that didn’t work out for me, but I went for it and it worked out. It seemed like those chances worked out for us a lot in big games.”

The following year, again against Wash High during the regular season, the Raiders trailed 7-0 when Fritz approached the line of scrimmage with instructions to spike the ball. Fritz had other ideas.

“I figured we were this close to scoring and if I sneak here, they may not be ready for it,” Fritz said. “So I faked the spike and it worked.”

Waynesburg went on to win the WPIAL Class AA championship in 1999 in convincing fashion, a championship made sweeter by beating the Prexies again, this time at Three Rivers Stadium. The Raiders, who had last played for a WPIAL title in 1959, went into the PIAA Class AA semifinals as a heavy favorite, but a few uncharacteristic mistakes led to a stunning 17-13 loss to eventual state champion Tyrone.

Fritz, a two-time all-state selection and the 2000 Observer-Reporter Offensive Player of the Year, might not have had an opportunity to play for a PIAA championship trophy in football, but he did in baseball.

Waynesburg won the 1999 WPIAL Class AA championship – the first year the PIAA expanded to three classifications for the sport – and defeated Northern Cambria, Brookville and old rival Brownsville to reach the championship game. The first Greene County team to play for a state title in a boys sport, Waynesburg lost to Palmyra, 7-2, in the final. Fritz, a sophomore, was one of the team’s best players.

By the end of his junior year, he was easily one of the WPIAL’s best players and top pitchers as Waynesburg returned to the WPIAL title game behind Fritz, who went 11-1 and led the team in batting. Fritz was so talented, a former professional baseball scout once called the Observer-Reporter sports department specifically to talk about him following an American Legion all-star tryout. The scout said Fritz’s outfield arm reminded him of Roberto Clemente.

That arm remained healthy for most of Fritz’s senior football season when he earned the distinction of being the first WPIAL player to rush (1,168) and pass (1,374) for 1,000 yards in the same season. A dual-threat quarterback before the term became popular, Fritz led Waynesburg to another appearance at Three Rivers Stadium. This time, the Raiders lost to Aliquippa and Fritz suffered a shoulder injury that eventually required surgery and kept him from playing baseball that year.

“I gave track a try and track is so different,” Fritz said. “A lot of stuff you do on your own and I was used to having a coach direct me. “I got out of shape pretty quickly after my shoulder surgery. Track was a humbling experience.”

Still, Fritz had ample opportunity to play college sports. Penn State and Oklahoma State made offers for baseball. Several Mid-American Conference schools made offers in football. Initially, he elected to walk-on the WVU football team. After a couple days of practice, he switched directions and walked onto the Mountaineers’ baseball team.

Fritz hadn’t played baseball in two years but, during the fall season, he batted in .330s and quickly impressed longtime coach Greg Van Zant.

Fritz led WVU in batting three consecutive years, including a Big East Conference-best .407 as a sophomore. That year, Fritz set WVU records for hits in a season by an outfielder (88) and multi-hit games (28). His .378 career batting average ranks No. 8 on WVU’s all-time list, as do his 206 career singles. His 230 hits are seventh on the all-time list.

Despite his success, Fritz wasn’t drafted. Not that the Academic All-American was counting on it.

“He could’ve played professional baseball but he chose to finish school and get a doctorate in physical therapy. He wanted to devote his life to God and his family,” Simpson said. “If he would’ve chased baseball, it was a possible strain on his relationship with Sara. He didn’t want to do that, and that’s one of the things I’m most proud of about him and about our group. High school sports are all about learning things like how to be good citizens and how to build relationships. That’s what we did, and we became successful people off the field because of what we learned being teammates together.”

Mike Kovak is assistant night editor at the Observer-Reporter.