Fresno State Athletics
Hall of Famer Graves Passes
9/29/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Sept. 29, 2011
FRESNO, Calif. - Fresno State baseball Wall of Fame pitcher Gene Graves succumbed to cancer Monday at the age of 79. He was a member of 1961 squad that finished No. 4 in the nation.
Graves went 10-0 with a 2.44 ERA and a program record four shutouts under the late Pete Beiden. The 1961 team ended its season with a 36-9 record.
He was inducted into the Fresno State Wall of Fame in 2007.
"It's a packed house and he asks the umpire if he could pump [in his windup] as many times as his number, which was 13," said Tom Graves, one of Gene Graves four surviving children, of his father in a game against Arizona in Tucson. "He did, but the umpire then told him not to do it anymore, so he threw to first base 13 times. He took a no-hitter into the eighth or ninth and ended up getting a standing ovation."
Both programs were ranked top 10 at the time.
After spending 10 years in a Canadian semi-pro league, he returned to Fresno where he taught in elementary schools in the Fresno Unified District for 29 years.
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