Completed Event: Men's Basketball versus Northwestern State on November 21, 2025 , Win , 85, to, 72
M Basketball
vs Northwestern State
W 85-72
Grand Canyon University Athletics
Drew recalls Frayer's all-around impact
3/26/2021 6:04:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro
Late GCU hoop standout led team behind scenes
There is no question that Oscar Frayer was beloved at Grand Canyon, a place the Bay Area native called home.
There likely was not a more well-known student, but he embraced that persona beyond lifting the Lopes program and fans' spirits in GCU Arena. His touchpoints extended beyond that and come to light more as the campus mourns Tuesday's tragic deaths of Frayer, his older sister Andrea Moore and an unidentified friend in a Lodi, California, car crash.
Whether it is anecdotes of Frayer spending time with kids on hometown visits, eating with GCU food services workers, asking to lead The Lord's Prayer in the locker room or befriending campus security, Frayer was becoming the man that his mother hoped he would be when he left Oakland, California, for GCU.
Even Frayer's Lopes head coach, Bryce Drew, did not quite realize how much the graduating senior was leading the Lopes when coaches were not watching.
"It's been really hard," Drew said Friday. "There's no game plan for this. There's no prep for this. It's been devastating. We've tried to get together with the guys every day in some capacity just to talk and just to be together.
"But it's really hard — the impact he had on our players' lives. I'm hearing stories the last day of things that he said or things that he did with them that we weren't even aware of. He was truly leading our team behind the scenes and really building some of the younger players on our team."
The deaths of Frayer, his sister and a friend have resonated nationally, with an ESPN SportsCenter tribute and scores of social media dedications that resulted in a GCU remembrance video being viewed more than 895,000 times in its first 24 hours on Twitter and Instagram.
On the Phoenix campus, an impromptu Frayer memorial formed in front of GCU Arena when his death became official Thursday night.
"I'm thankful that I got to know Oscar this year," Drew said. "As stories keep coming up, it's amazing just the impact he had on campus, even away from our basketball program. He's probably the most well-known person on campus and probably the most liked on campus. Just his energetic spirit to him and his smile would just brighten your day and would light up our whole gym when we had practices."
Frayer was proud — his Twitter name was Oscar Proud — that he had graduated with a degree in Communications and would walk in next month's commencement. Becoming the first man in his mother's family to receive a degree was a heartening comeback after Frayer missed the 2019-20 season for academic ineligibility.
"I remember when I first got the job and I called O," Drew said of last March. "We talked about a fresh beginning. Everybody at the school loved him and we all wanted him back to finish his degree. There's no doubt in my mind one of the main reasons he came back is his mom.
"He promised his mom that he was going to get his degree. I think that was a driving motivation to please his mom and be the first male in his family to graduate from college. He accomplished that. At the end of February, he finished his last class and he has his college degree. Underneath it all, that was a huge motivation for him."
Many are thinking of his mother, junior college counseling assistant Bionca Sparrow. She also lost Oscar Frayer III, her husband and Frayer's father, to a fatal California highway crash when Frayer was 7 years old. On Tuesday, a crash claimed the lives of her son and a daughter, who had four children under the age of 9. Before the season, Frayer said he wanted to return for his degree to be a role model for his five nephews.
A memorial fund to assist Sparrow's family was established by Frayer's Moreau Catholic High School coach, Frank Knight, and raised nearly $100,000 in the first 24 hours. NBA player Marquese Chriss donated $5,000.
There were many poignant moments in recent weeks for Frayer, whose 107th career start was in GCU's NCAA tournament debut on Saturday and included a chase-down block worthy of "One Shining Moment." A week earlier at the WAC Tournament, the coaches asked players to bow their heads and raise a hand if they wanted to rededicate their life to Jesus Christ. Frayer raised his hand.
"For him to be able to, in a two-week span, graduate, get his degree, win a conference championship, play in the NCAA tournament and then rededicate his life to Christ, it was by far the happiest I'd ever seen him," said Drew, who prayed privately with Frayer before the High Flyer's final home game. "Just to see the joy exerting on his face and out of his mouth is something I'll always have with me. I'll always be able to see that smile and know the happiness that was in his soul the last few weeks."
That light had more shine when the Lopes claimed their first share of a regular-season WAC title and he cut nets at GCU Arena on March 5.
For a WAC Tournament send-off, Frayer arrived at GCU Arena with his piece of the championship net tied into his hat. A few days later, he was cutting a net again as a WAC Tournament champion who was headed to the Big Dance.
"I definitely thought I was going to go away for a second, but with my faith and my family and the resilience that I have, I knew that this was home," Frayer said after his final home game. "You can't leave a sour taste in home's mouth. I knew that I wanted to come home and finish this thing off."
Postscript: Scott Drew on Frayer
Baylor head coach Scott Drew, Bryce's older brother, shared his thoughts on Frayer's passing after his team's Sweet 16 victory Saturday against Villanova.
Scott Drew: "I tell you what, it puts it all into perspective. I mean, O had been there for five years. He had graduated. And, I mean, I cried for two days. And I never coached him. And, I tell you, with our players, when we talked about it, the great thing is O accepted Christ 11 days earlier, so he's hooping up in the big gym where you don't miss any and you get no losses."
There likely was not a more well-known student, but he embraced that persona beyond lifting the Lopes program and fans' spirits in GCU Arena. His touchpoints extended beyond that and come to light more as the campus mourns Tuesday's tragic deaths of Frayer, his older sister Andrea Moore and an unidentified friend in a Lodi, California, car crash.
Whether it is anecdotes of Frayer spending time with kids on hometown visits, eating with GCU food services workers, asking to lead The Lord's Prayer in the locker room or befriending campus security, Frayer was becoming the man that his mother hoped he would be when he left Oakland, California, for GCU.
Even Frayer's Lopes head coach, Bryce Drew, did not quite realize how much the graduating senior was leading the Lopes when coaches were not watching.
"It's been really hard," Drew said Friday. "There's no game plan for this. There's no prep for this. It's been devastating. We've tried to get together with the guys every day in some capacity just to talk and just to be together."But it's really hard — the impact he had on our players' lives. I'm hearing stories the last day of things that he said or things that he did with them that we weren't even aware of. He was truly leading our team behind the scenes and really building some of the younger players on our team."
The deaths of Frayer, his sister and a friend have resonated nationally, with an ESPN SportsCenter tribute and scores of social media dedications that resulted in a GCU remembrance video being viewed more than 895,000 times in its first 24 hours on Twitter and Instagram.
On the Phoenix campus, an impromptu Frayer memorial formed in front of GCU Arena when his death became official Thursday night.
"I'm thankful that I got to know Oscar this year," Drew said. "As stories keep coming up, it's amazing just the impact he had on campus, even away from our basketball program. He's probably the most well-known person on campus and probably the most liked on campus. Just his energetic spirit to him and his smile would just brighten your day and would light up our whole gym when we had practices."
Frayer was proud — his Twitter name was Oscar Proud — that he had graduated with a degree in Communications and would walk in next month's commencement. Becoming the first man in his mother's family to receive a degree was a heartening comeback after Frayer missed the 2019-20 season for academic ineligibility.
"I remember when I first got the job and I called O," Drew said of last March. "We talked about a fresh beginning. Everybody at the school loved him and we all wanted him back to finish his degree. There's no doubt in my mind one of the main reasons he came back is his mom.
"He promised his mom that he was going to get his degree. I think that was a driving motivation to please his mom and be the first male in his family to graduate from college. He accomplished that. At the end of February, he finished his last class and he has his college degree. Underneath it all, that was a huge motivation for him."
Many are thinking of his mother, junior college counseling assistant Bionca Sparrow. She also lost Oscar Frayer III, her husband and Frayer's father, to a fatal California highway crash when Frayer was 7 years old. On Tuesday, a crash claimed the lives of her son and a daughter, who had four children under the age of 9. Before the season, Frayer said he wanted to return for his degree to be a role model for his five nephews.A memorial fund to assist Sparrow's family was established by Frayer's Moreau Catholic High School coach, Frank Knight, and raised nearly $100,000 in the first 24 hours. NBA player Marquese Chriss donated $5,000.
There were many poignant moments in recent weeks for Frayer, whose 107th career start was in GCU's NCAA tournament debut on Saturday and included a chase-down block worthy of "One Shining Moment." A week earlier at the WAC Tournament, the coaches asked players to bow their heads and raise a hand if they wanted to rededicate their life to Jesus Christ. Frayer raised his hand.
"For him to be able to, in a two-week span, graduate, get his degree, win a conference championship, play in the NCAA tournament and then rededicate his life to Christ, it was by far the happiest I'd ever seen him," said Drew, who prayed privately with Frayer before the High Flyer's final home game. "Just to see the joy exerting on his face and out of his mouth is something I'll always have with me. I'll always be able to see that smile and know the happiness that was in his soul the last few weeks."
That light had more shine when the Lopes claimed their first share of a regular-season WAC title and he cut nets at GCU Arena on March 5.
For a WAC Tournament send-off, Frayer arrived at GCU Arena with his piece of the championship net tied into his hat. A few days later, he was cutting a net again as a WAC Tournament champion who was headed to the Big Dance.
"I definitely thought I was going to go away for a second, but with my faith and my family and the resilience that I have, I knew that this was home," Frayer said after his final home game. "You can't leave a sour taste in home's mouth. I knew that I wanted to come home and finish this thing off."
Postscript: Scott Drew on Frayer
Baylor head coach Scott Drew, Bryce's older brother, shared his thoughts on Frayer's passing after his team's Sweet 16 victory Saturday against Villanova.
Scott Drew: "I tell you what, it puts it all into perspective. I mean, O had been there for five years. He had graduated. And, I mean, I cried for two days. And I never coached him. And, I tell you, with our players, when we talked about it, the great thing is O accepted Christ 11 days earlier, so he's hooping up in the big gym where you don't miss any and you get no losses."
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