Wayne Graham, who turned Rice into perennial power, dies at 88

HOUSTON -- Wayne Graham, who coached the Rice baseball team to seven College World Series appearances and the 2003 national championship, has died. He was 88.

The university announced that Graham died Tuesday night in Austin. It did not provide a cause of death.

Graham took over a struggling Rice program in 1992 and won 1,173 games in 27 seasons. He led the Owls to 23 consecutive NCAA tournaments from 1995 to 2017, including 11 super regionals. All of the Owls' CWS appearances came between 1997 and 2008.

Graham's 2003 team won two of three games against Stanford in the CWS finals to give Rice its first national title in a team sport.

"What Coach Graham accomplished during his time at Rice is truly remarkable," Rice athletic director Tommy McClelland said. "He built a program that served as the envy of college baseball for nearly three decades. I am grateful I was able to spend time with him last fall and thank him for all he had done for Rice baseball and our University. He set the standard for excellence within our athletics programs and his legacy will never be forgotten."

Graham was born in Yoakum, Texas, and played two seasons at Texas before an 11-year career in the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Mets organizations. He was a longtime coach at San Jacinto Junior College, where seven-time Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens starred before transferring to Texas.

"Coach Wayne Graham was one of the Best of the Best! A baseball lifer! Great Coach, but far better teacher of the game! Gave us young men life lessons to carry with us forever," Clemens wrote in a social media post.

Rice had five national players of the year and 19 first-round picks in the Major League Baseball amateur draft, including No. 1 pick Matt Anderson in 1997. In 2004, pitchers Philip Humber, Jeff Niemann and Wade Townsend were selected third, fourth and eighth as Rice became the first school to have three players selected in the first round.