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Working on the chain gang wasn’t their idea. Like a real chain gang they were volunteered. High school football chain gangs used to get paid like the refs. When that changed the Carlsbad football coaches were scratching their heads about who would do the job. Mama Frazee worked in the cafeteria and over heard them. “My boys will do it” was how Tim Frazee paraphrased his mother’s offer to help. Whether you read the word ‘will’ as leaning toward the boys’ enthusiasm or Polly’s possessive pronoun depends on how well you know the persuasive powers of Polly Frazee.

The job grew on the Frazee brothers. Growing up half a block from Krcmar Field (When Coach Swede Krcmar was in his glory days) they already had a Friday night habit. Carlsbad was a small town then and the high school football game was sometimes the biggest thing going. On homecoming, “The whole town would stop for the parade,” Mike Frazee said. Even if you didn’t attend the high school, the football game was a city thing to do.

In their own high school years, the Frazees were one of those CHS dynastic families. For almost 15 years there was one Frazee or another at CHS. Their Carlsbad roots are some of the deepest. They are Marrons (and Romos) on their mother’s side. (The Marrons held the original Spanish land grant for what is now most of Carlsbad). And Osuñas on the Frazee side. The Frazee side being responsible for a lot of flowers in Carlsbad. Their family tree is historically mind-boggling.

Large families are often pigeon-holed by the oldest child’s achievements, but none of the succeeding Frazees had a problem filling the shadow cast by Mike. Though the family brand was sports, only Carolyn, the lone Frazee sister, was voted most athletic. Mike was Best Looking among the Lancer Laurels. Tim was Biggest Flirt. Tom got Car of the Year. But it was Carolyn who won the Iron Lancer her senior year in 1981. Carolyn was a four-year letterman in three sports; the baby of the Frazee family seemed to be saving the best for last.

Mike Frazee was in the class of ’69 at Carlsbad High. He was co-captain of the football team with Mark Baldwin and tri-captain of the baseball team with Dan Vessey and Dave Martinez his senior year.

Pat, class of ’70, played football and baseball. Mike remembered Pat as a teammate on the diamond, “When Pat was on the mound they had a hard time hitting him, not because he had a blazing fastball, but because he threw a lot of off-speed stuff and kept the hitters off stride.”

Tom, class of ’76, couldn’t play football for medical reasons. He ran cross-country and track. Because the larger meets issued medals for the top three finishers, Tom’s letterman jacket made him look like a Soviet general. Students would hear the clanking down the halls before he ever came into sight.

Tim, class of ’75, played football, wrestled and played baseball. This part of the Frazee dynasty overlapped the Pao Pao dynasty over at Oceanside High School, Carlsbad’s arch-rivals. The Pao Paos were just bigger than most boys should be and as Coach Don Johnson said, “Spirits always ran high when Carlsbad played Oceanside.” Sometimes a CHS team was judged not by more Ws in the proper column than Ls, but by whether or not they beat Oceanside. Tim catching the two point conversion that won the Oceanside game eclipses anything else than may have happened.

After graduating, working the chain gang kept the Frazee brothers as close to Carlsbad football as possible. “Best seats in the house,” Tim said of their privileged perspective, and they have watched some great games. “In ’81 we were right there when (Glen) Kozlowski (who went on to play for the Chicago Bears) caught it right on the line to beat Oceanside.”

Tom and Pat have taken their turns in the gang. But Tim said, “We have a waiting list for guys that want to sub in.” But Tim and Mike are fixtures. The day Tom got married it was a Saturday play-off game. Tim ordered purple bowties and cummerbunds and the groomsmen dashed from the church and held the chains in Lancer tuxes.

Mike, who is a deacon and fulltime administrator for St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, blames the donning of the collar on the moving of the chains. In the beginning Father Scott McCall did the down marker. He kept asking Mike to look into the deaconate. Father Louie Newman took over the nagging and Mike said, “I finally said ‘yes’ to shut him up.” Now he said, “I’m glad I said ‘yes’ to the call. It truly has been a blessing.”

Tim has only missed three games since the brothers started guarding the hash marks in 1980. “For a Dave Matthews (Band) concert in Vegas and two James Taylor concerts,” Tim said. All those were special times with his son TJ who succumbed to cancer on March 20th of this year at the age of 23.

The gang runs the sidelines constantly. At the start of the game they challenge the zebras to keep up with them. The hard part is they have to remain impartial and cannot cheer. But an added perk is getting to know the visiting coaches. “We get to see how they control their team—or not,” Tim said. “Ed Burke of Torrey Pines is the best in my mind,” he said while Mike nodded. Mike said, “Dick Hanes of Vista and Herb Meyer loved to be on the field.”

The chain gang will yell, “Coach, Clear!” when they have to move the markers fast. Ken Broach of San Marcos didn’t hear the warning once and the chain hit him in his Achilles tendon. It flipped him in the air and he landed on his head. The Ashbey brothers were on the coaching staff at SMHS at the time and made sure Broach’s flip made the film review the next week at practice.

Mike said of the chain gang, “We didn’t think we’d be doing it this long.” But Tim said, “We took it seriously; we took pride in it.” Something Polly must have known about her sons when she volunteered them. All four brothers were grand marshals together of a Lancer Day parade. They were the only chain gang to ever be invited to the official’s banquet. They have quite a reputation. Only the Chula Vista gang comes close, but we all know—since we don’t have to be impartial—that Carlsbad has the best. •