Ginger Fraser

Paul F. "Ginger" Fraser (November 15, 1892 – April 11, 1938) was an American football player, coach, and military officer. He was considered to be one of Maine's all-time greatest college football players.

College Fraser attended Colby College, where he played four years for the Colby Mules football team. He was the team captain in 1914.

Coaching After graduating in 1915, Fraser served as sub-master and athletic director at Waterville High School in Waterville, Maine.

During World War I, Fraser tried to enter government service, but was initially rejected due to poor eyesight. He instead joined the YMCA, which maintained camps at the rear of the fighting lines. On April 30, 1917 he was ordered to report to his YMCA in Portland, Maine. Everett High granted him an indefinite leave of absence. That December, Fraser was selected for the Officers' Training Corps and assigned to Fort Oglethorpe in Georgia. He was later transferred to Camp Wadsworth in Spartanburg, South Carolina, where he excelled in wrestling. He was eventually assigned to the 1st Maine Heavy Artillery Regiment as a First Lieutenant. That same year he was the referee for a football game between Bowdoin and Boston University. The game was the first in Maine and one of the first in the United States to be played with a limited number of plays (each team had thirty plays per quarter). Bowdoin won the game 6–0. In 1928 and 1929, Fraser was granted a leave of absence to serve as an assistant football coach at Bowdoin.

Death On April 11, 1938, Fraser died of a heart attack following a game of badminton. He was survived by his wife, four daughters, and two sons. In 1939, Colby College's annual "Colby Night" was renamed "Ginger Fraser Night" to honor Fraser. All of the living members of the 1914 team returned to Colby for the school's homecoming celebration.