Frasier, McCaa win Cramer Awards

Two local icons who played important roles as assistant coaches in multiple sports at Columbus North over the past decade have been chosen as this year’s Jack Cramer Ideals of Athletic Competition Award winners.

Veteran chiropractor Nate Frasier and the late Karen McCaa will be honored in a banquet at a time to be determined.

McCaa, a 1989 Indiana All-Star basketball player, graduated as North’s all-time leading scorer with 1,064 points. She went on to play at Eastern Illinois before returning to Indiana as a guidance counselor at Milan and Hauser High Schools.

After picking up a master’s degree from University of Tennessee, McCaa moved to Iowa and became guidance counselor at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids. She also coached Show Choir at a high school in Iowa and was on Cedar Rapids Jefferson’s football coaching staff as a life coach.

In 2010, McCaa began battling Addison’s Disease, then contracted a few other illnesses. She returned to Columbus in 2013 and served as a volunteer assistant for the North football and girls basketball teams.

Former Columbus North girls basketball assistant coach Karen McCaa speaks to the team before they take to the court for their sectional opener at Shelbyville, Feb. 13, 2015. The Bull Dogs went on to win the state title that year.

The Republic file photo

McCaa’s main role with those teams was as a motivational speaker. She helped lead the Bull Dogs to the girls basketball Class 4A state title in 2015 and a runner-up finish the following year.

A few years ago, McCaa’s condition worsened. She died May 13 at the age of 52.

“What she’s gone through the last 15 years or so was unbelievable,” former North girls basketball coach Pat McKee said after her passing. “Most people could not have gone through that. For all the battles she had — and she had three or four different diseases, and they were all attacking her — despite all the challenges she had, she found a way to be positive about her life and be positive and encouraging to everybody she met. She had a very uplifting personality. She made others see the good side of every situation.”

Frasier is a 2000 North graduate and earned 12 letters in soccer, football and basketball. He was the kicker on the football team, but his senior year, played wide receiver in a sectional game and scored all of the Bull Dogs’ points in a 24-21 win against Martinsville.

In 2008, Frasier opened MVP as a sports training facility for athletes in all sports. He trains high school and college athletes not only from North and Columbus East, but from all over the area.

Frasier has served as an assistant coach at North in both boys basketball and baseball. He and his wife Sarah also won “Dancing With the Stars-Columbus Style” in 2018.

In the past couple of years, Frasier has furthered his own physical development by competing in the local Tough Mudder events. He put together a team last year that competed in the 12-hour Tougher Mudder at Ceraland.

Fraiser also was part of the originating board for the Columbus North Alumni Association. His mother-in-law Nora Coleman was a Cramer Award recipient in 2007.

“Just reading the list of winners from over the years, it’s the Who’s Who of Columbus,” Frasier said. “Seeing my mother-in-law win, I was at the banquet to see her give her speech. It’s really cool to see it come full circle. It’s a real honor to be in that program. Karen McCaa was a real influence to me when I was in high school. We had lots of talks about career paths and about me going into the medical field.”

Local pastor and radio sportscaster Tom Rust nominated Frasier for the award.

“Mentally, I don’t know of anyone tougher than Nate Frasier,” Rust said. “His determination and willingness to push the limits comes across to athletes of all stripes that want to be the best. And yet, I think he asks that of himself… He generates tremendous respect from all who have trained under him or been on one of his teams.”