Fred Dallimore takes year off for knee Surgery

Monday, Dec. 22, 1997 | 11:48 a.m.

For the first time since he began his coaching career 30 years ago, former UNLV head coach Fred Dallimore will not be wearing a baseball uniform in 1998.

Dallimore, who guided UNLV to 18 winning seasons in 23 years as the Rebels' head coach and served as pitching coach for the Baltimore Orioles' triple-A team this season, is taking the year off to have knee replacement surgery.

He helped the Rochester (N.Y.) Red Wings to the International League championship this season in his first stint as a professional coach after retiring from UNLV following the 1996 season.

"It was a great experience," Dallimore said of his first taste of pro baseball. "I have no regrets but I'm not going back. It was easy for me to make that decision based on my pain level right now.

"Four days after Christmas I'm going to have my right knee replaced. I coached a lot of the year in pain ... and I'm not going to coach and take the pain pills and load up on the anti-inflammatories again. The next time I go back, I'm going to be in perfect health because it's a daily grind."

Dallimore said that Syd Thrift, Baltimore's director of player development, left the door open for him to return to the Orioles' organization.

Dallimore said he enjoyed coaching in the professional ranks but would like to hook up with an organization whose triple-A affiliate is a little closer to his Las Vegas home.

While Dallimore said there is a completely different philosophy between professional and college baseball, he said he had no problems working with the Orioles' young pitchers.

"In pro ball, the players are the game and where I came from in college coaching, the coaches are a real vital part of the program," said Dallimore, who posted a 794-558-2 record at UNLV. "In professional baseball, it's a business.

"Like I told my son (Brian, an infielder in the Houston Astros chain), college baseball is probably the last time you're ever going to play and really have fun, just enjoy it as far as a sport. When you start packing a lunch bucket and it becomes a job, a lot of the fun goes out of it."

Dallimore, who was widely respected for his work with his pitchers while at UNLV, got the most out of his pitchers at Rochester. The Red Wings led the International League in virtually every pitching category, including wins, strikeouts, fewest walks and fewest hits per inning.

"I never had one problem with a player," Dallimore said. "They all worked hard and they did everything I asked them to do as a pitching coach.

"I had good communication with them and not one time did any of them say, 'Well, this guy is just a college coach.' I had no apprehensions going in that I would be able to handle it or be able to relate to the players. For me, the basic thing is communication -- you just have to be able to deal with each individual player."

As a result of spending seven months away from home, Dallimore said he gained a new respect for professional athletes.

"Until you've gone through it one time, and you go through spring training and a long season, then you have no idea and no appreciation for what the athletes go through," he said. "They make a lot of personal sacrifices and it's not all glamor, there's a lot of work and a lot of loneliness for those players.

"That was my first time away from home for that length of time and it was a tough situation; I saw my wife for 15 days in seven months. That was a little tough at first. If it hadn't been for the baseball part of it, going to work every day, that part might have been overwhelming."