Gamecocks Mourn the Passing of Buddy Frick

South Carolina Athletics mourns the recent passing of Fred “Buddy” Frick, a Gamecock football letterwinner and 1956 team captain, who passed away on Nov. 17, 2021, in Columbus, Ga. He was 86 years old.

Frick lettered from 1954-56 as an offensive and defensive end. In 1956, he earned All-ACC honors and played in the North-South Shrine Game. During his senior year, he served co-captain and helped lead the Gamecocks to a 7-3 overall record, finishing 5-2 in the ACC. The team was ranked as high as 17th during the season in the AP poll.

The North, S.C. native was taken in the 1957 NFL Draft by the Washington Redskins and eventually played for the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League in 1957.

Following his time in professional football, Frick, moved back to Greenville, S.C. and began a career in the machine tool industry. With a mechanical engineering degree from Carolina, Frick started his own company, The Tool Crib, Inc., in Powdersville, SC., and then worked at Ulbrich Specialty Wire Products in Westminster, SC.

He is survived by his children Steven and Lisa Frick of Redwood City, CA, Craig and Keeley Frick of Columbus, GA and Elaine Webster “Laney” Frick of Greenville, SC. He had a grandfather’s love and pride in his four grandchildren: Eric Frick of Charlotte, NC, a 2011 South Carolina graduate, Rachel Frick of Pittsburgh, PA and Paxton and Preslee Frick of Columbus, GA. He was preceded in death by his parents, his wife Wanda Dearman Frick of Greenville, SC, and his brother Jerry Frick of Montgomery, AL.

Burial services are planned at Woodridge Memorial Park in Lexington, SC. Donations in his memory to the Gamecock Club (1304 Heyward Street, Columbia, SC 29208) will be appreciated by his family to help student-athletes have the same type of transformative experience he had at USC.