Herm Frazier competed at the highest level, winning Olympic medals in the 1976 Montreal games, and he served on the U.S. Olympic Committee and was the "chef de mission" for the 2004 games in Greece.

And since 2011, he has been a member of the athletics department at Syracuse University, promoted in 2016 to become the senior deputy director.

As a college student at Arizona State University, Frazier was an eight time All-American track star. While it takes several years for most to reach the elite level of their sport, for Frazier, it came fairly quickly.

“I didn’t start running track until I was a high school senior and so three years after I was in the Olympics. A lot of people thought when I was in '76, that I didn’t know what I was doing. So for me, as a junior at Arizona State at the time, to go to Montreal and capture the bronze medal in the 400 meters and then to come back with the relay team with some great teammates of Bennie Brown, Maxie Parks, Freddie Newhouse, and capture the gold in the 4-by-400-meter relay, was just phenomenal,” said Frazier.

herm frazier arizona state
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Frazier had originally gone to school with the intention of being a lawyer, but becoming an assistant athletic director at the age of 23 for a Pac-10 school changed things.

“I went to graduate school for public administration, but then I never got to law school because once I took a bite of the apple of athletic administration I go, 'This is it, I’m going to do this the rest of my life,’” said Frazier.

He's been involved with athletic administration for more than 40 years and in that time he's come to better appreciate his position as an influencer to young African Americans.

“I think I started blazing a trail for many young people who are now involved in athletic administration. There’s a whole new breed of African American administrators who will seek out my advice. When you think about it, it’s now 2020 and I started this in 1979, that’s a pretty long career and it has its ups and downs,” said Frazier.

Frazier is a valued member of the athletic department. And while the hours are long and there are a lot of pressures that come with the position, there is one thing he doesn't like to talk about in front of his boss.

“Last week [Syracuse Athletic Director] John Wildhack and I were speaking at a conference for young people and one of the things we talked about was how do we enjoy our careers as administrators. And one of the things I said was, you can’t ask me that question with my direct supervisor sitting next to me because at the end of the day, I don’t consider what I do work,” said Frazier. “This is really my hobby and I guess I get paid to do something I love and the other thing about it is I’ve taken the stance that every day that I come into this office or come into this building I’m trying to do something to make a difference in the lives of young people.”