Standout basketball player at WVU, Moon inspired with attitude on ALS

JOSEPH MICHAEL FRYZ JR. Oct. 27, 1958 - June 18, 2017

A month ago, John Calipari visited Joe Fryz at his home, and Mr. Calipari was able to carry Mr. Fryz’s frail body and put him in a chair lift. Mr. Fryz was battling ALS, and for Mr. Calipari, it felt like helping a family member.

“His wife [Linda] asked me to carry him and it felt like I was able to help him,” said Mr. Calipari, the University of Kentucky basketball coach. “When I was a sophomore at Moon and he was a senior, I ended up starting with him. He took me under his wing. He was like a big brother to me and I never forgot that.”

That May get-together was the final time Mr. Calipari saw his former teammate and longtime friend. Mr. Fryz died Sunday at his home in Franklin Park of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. He was 58.

Mr. Fryz was an outstanding basketball player at Moon High School from 1973-76, an all-state guard who averaged 27 points a game as a senior and was recruited by a number of major colleges before choosing West Virginia University. Mr. Fryz played four years at West Virginia and was the team captain in 1979-80, when he averaged 10 points per game. One of his teammates was Bob Huggins, the current WVU coach.

Mr. Calipari and Mr. Huggins stayed close to Mr. Fryz, visiting him at his home while he was sick.

“Joe was like a big brother to me and then Bob was like a big brother to him when Joe went to West Virginia,” Mr. Calipari said.

Although Mr. Fryz made a name for himself with basketball talent, it was his attitude toward life in his post-playing days and the way he battled ALS that inspired others. In January, the Pittsburgh Basketball Club inducted Mr. Fryz into its Hall of Fame and he also was given the PBC Courage Award.

At an induction banquet, with more than 300 people in attendance, Mr. Fryz received three standing ovations. He spoke softly while addressing the audience from his wheelchair.

“I don’t want to turn this into a religious event,” said Mr. Fryz. “But I’m not afraid — and I’m not afraid because I have God by my side.”

He also went on to say he wasn’t afraid because he also had an angel by his side — his wife, Linda.

Mr. Fryz was diagnosed with ALS in November 2014. He was a volunteer assistant coach at Cornell High School, where the head coach was Bill Sacco, who was the junior varsity coach at Moon when Mr. Fryz played there.

“There were many days when his wife wheeled him into our gym,” Mr. Sacco said. “Even in his condition, he showed up when he could. The days he would come, the kids would get excited. It was just something about him. The kids really didn’t know Joe as a player because it was a long time ago. But they genuinely knew him as just a great person. You could tell that. The thing was, his whole family was that way.”

Mr. Sacco and Mr. Calipari said Western Pennsylvania might not realize how good of a player Mr. Fryz was in high school. Mr. Calipari joked that Moon didn’t win much in Mr. Fryz’s senior year “because Joe had to play with guys like me.”

“I’m telling you that he was one of the best athletes I ever played with,” Mr. Calipari said. “He was unbelievable. He was a quick jumper. He was wiry. He would be in attack mode and just jump over you.”

Mr. Sacco said: “When he was a sophomore, a new coach didn’t think he was that good so he put him on the JV at first. Joe scored 30 points in [each of] three JV games and he played varsity the rest of the way.

“If people saw him play in his heyday, they would say they never saw a kid like him. He could really jump. I think we won only three or four games his senior year, but he still got a full scholarship to West Virginia, and other schools wanted him, too. That says something about him.”

Mr. Fryz was the son of two former school teachers at Moon, Joe and Elizabeth Fryz.

“People always say when someone passes away how they were a great person,” Mr. Sacco said. “But this guy was. Anybody at Moon knew the Fryzes were topnotch people.”

Besides his wife, Mr. Fryz is survived by a sister, Debbie Wise, of Morgantown, W.Va.

The funeral Mass is at 10 a.m. Wednesday at St. John & Paul Catholic Church, 2568 Wexford Bayne Road, Sewickley, Pa.