Bio

Fred Weems

Perkinston Junior College (1956-1958) / Baseball
Biloxi, Mississippi

Baseball is more than just a sport for Fred Weems — it’s been a lifelong passion. There aren’t many people who played, coach, umpired and written 28 published articles about every aspect of the game. He’s also chronicled his career with scrapbooks full of newspaper articles and pictures. Some were lost when his house in Bay St. Louis received 4 feet of water during Hurricane Katrina, but Weems was able to save a few of them. But what Katrina took, Weems still has, thanks to his incredible ability to accurately remember statistics, anecdotes and players he encountered along the way.

“When I was 12, I knew I wanted to be a coach,” Weems said. But before his coaching career got started, Weems was a standout baseball player at Notre Dame High School in Biloxi. He then went to Perk, where as the team’s catcher he helped the Bulldogs win the Mississippi Association of Junior Colleges baseball title in 1957 as they beat Itawamba 9-7.

“In those days, everyone went to Perk to play ball,” he said. “There was one game we played where Joe McAnulty and I decided we were going to each get three hits. It turns out Joe got five, and I got one. The state title game was the only night game we played all year, and we won.”

Former Bulldog baseball coach Mel Carpenter remembers Weems as a self-assured team leader on and off the field.

“Fred was a very intelligent and confident baseball player with the right temperament to be a catcher,” Carpenter said. “He had a slight cockiness in his attitude, which was great for a player at his position. In the state title game, Fred drove in a couple of runs and scored another one. I’m proud to have Coach Fred Weems and been a part of his career.”

After his day at Perk, Weems played baseball at William Carey College and had a couple of tryouts with major league teams.

“I tried out with the Royals and the Orioles,” Weems said. “I thought I could play, but I couldn’t run very fast, and I couldn’t hit for power.”

Despite that setback, there would be more baseball in store for Weems in the United States Army. He joined in 1963 and was player-coach for a team in Germany that fell under the Army’s Special Services Program. The team ended up winning the Army’s Northern Area Command championship.

“Those were the happiest years of my life,” he said. "We entertained the troops with baseball. That was our duty.”

After the Army, Weems embarked on a 41-year coaching odyssey that included stops at Montevallo College, St. Stanislaus High School and Bay High School, where the baseball field is named in his honor. He also earned master’s and doctorate degrees in physical education from the University of Southern Mississippi, and developed the first batting camp for kids on the Gulf Coast.

In 1968, Weems married Fran Forman, and they were married for 40 years until his death on May 12, 2009. They have seven children, all of whom he made that left-handed and throw right-handed when they played baseball.

“I did that so I would always be the best right-handed hitter in the family,” he said.

In 1997, Weems was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Although he’s done well battling the affliction, he said in 2007 the previous two years have been difficult. These days he’s confined to a wheelchair. “It’s hard dealing with being in this chair,” he said. “But prayer and a great family keep me going.”