Two-Sport Superstar

This past Saturday, junior Robert Fried made his season debut for the Harvard lacrosse team, more than a month after the team’s opening game.

Fried’s late arrival wasn’t due to an injury, however. Instead, he had to wait until the hockey season came to a close, with a first round loss in the NCAA Tournament.

Yes, Rob Fried is the Bo Jackson, the Brian Jordan, the Deion Sanders of Harvard sports. He is a two-sport star.

While playing two varsity sports might seem an impossible feat to achieve at an academic institution such as Harvard, Fried uses athletics to focus his priorities and make the most of his time at college.

Having attended Deerfield Academy, a prep school in Western Mass, Fried is no stranger to the balancing act facing a multi-sport athlete and talented scholar.

At Deerfield, as in college, Fried shined brightest on the ice. As a senior, Fried captained a team that featured fellow Crimson teammate, junior Tyler Kolarik. Fried was named to the first team All-League and received the honor of Sports Illustrated/Old Spice Athlete of the Month in Nov. 1999.

Perhaps most impressive, however, is the fact that Fried was selected in the third round of the 2000 NHL Draft (77th overall) by the Florida Panthers.

Fried did not save stardom solely for hockey. The captain and starting goalkeeper of the varsity soccer squad, he received the team MVP award and garnered All-State, All-League, and All-New England honors.

Fried was also the assistant captain of the lacrosse team and the starting longpole midfielder.

The Macon of the Man

Fried hails from Macon, Georgia, but he fostered his love for hockey and lacrosse growing up in Pennsylvania and spending his boarding school days in the Northeast.

Lacrosse and hockey might not be the first sports that come to mind when you think of the South, but Fried’s family has a history of pursuing an eclectic mix of athletics. His father, Jeffrey Fried, was a three-time All-Ivy High Jumper and former school record holder at University of Pennsylvania. He also owned the now-defunct Macon Whoppee, a minor-league hockey team. His sister Susie is an aspiring Olympian in equestrian, and his uncle Neil was a professional body builder.

“I originally came to Harvard as an ice hockey recruit, so that was always my first allegiance,” Fried says.

Fried’s dedication has paid off for the Crimson. En route to the hockey team’s berth in the NCAA Tournament this year, Fried posted three goals, 10 assists and 26 penalty minutes for Harvard in 33 solid games.

Harvard hockey coach Mark Mazzoleni notes Fried’s consistency as a huge asset to the team.

“You know every day what you’re going to get from Robbie,” Mazzoleni says. “He has no valleys in his game.”

Captain of this year’s team, Dominic Moore, continues the praise of Fried.

“People often say that big guys are not as fast, or not as athletic as smaller players, but with Rob you have the whole nine yards,” Moore says.

While Fried is an imposing presence at 6’3 210 lbs., Moore believes that he “remains one of the fastest straight ahead skaters on the team. You couple this with his work ethic and you have a player that any team would love to have.”

The hockey team’s appreciation for Fried goes well beyond his on-ice performance. Fried is a class act on and off the ice.

“As a teammate, you look to people you can trust and to people that you know have a maturity about them that you can respect and work with,” Moore says. “Rob is one of the best character guys I have had the opportunity to play with.”

He’s The Lax Man

While Fried was recruited to play hockey, he has continued to foster his love for lacrosse, playing on the junior varsity team during his freshman year and getting the call up by varsity coach Scott Anderson in the middle of his sophomore season.

“Deerfield is in a tough league with a lot of guys who play hockey and lacrosse,” Anderson says. “Many fall by the wayside in college, but they’re pretty easy to spot.”

Playing longpole defender, a position based on physical skill, Fried makes the transition from hockey to lacrosse season smoothly, though there are inevitably a few hiccups.

“My ankles were still pretty sore after the first few days of lax,” Fried admits. “I also could lose a few pounds for the lacrosse season, because I am getting a little too much jiggle when I run.”

But while Fried’s physical prowess translates relatively naturally from the ice to the field, his feel for the game also helps ease the transition.

“The sports are not exactly analogous,” Anderson says. “But they both have systems and Rob picked up our defensive system very quickly.”

If playing two sports wasn’t enough, Fried’s life is not limited to across the river.

“[Fried] exemplifies everything we could ask of a student-athlete at Harvard,” Mazzoleni says.

And his extracurricular life is a full one. When not on the rink or the field, Fried, a government concentrator, is a member of the AD Club and a senior staff member of Satire V.

He is also developing a hockey clinic for underprivileged youth in Boston this summer.

As a testament to his hectic schedule, Fried tells the story of one day last spring when he woke up at 5:45 am to lift weights, returned to the rink at 3:00 pm after class, and then sprinted over to the lacrosse field for a 5 o’clock practice.

“Though these days are rare, they are still fun and help keep you focused, particularly in school,” Fried says.

A Class Act

“Playing two sports is not the burden some might make it out to be,” Fried says. “It’s actually a lot of fun—training, staying competitive, keeping focused, and meeting new people.”

Fried’s competitive edge stays sharp all year round, and his attitude and work ethic have left quite an impression on his coaches and teammates.

“His greatest asset is that he is a competitor,” Anderson says. “He is the quintessential athlete.”