Legendary Placer player, coach Randall Fee to be inducted into Hall of Fame

For his phenomenal accomplishments in developing competitive runners, Randall Fee will be inducted into the Placer High School Athletic Hall of Fame on April 29 in a ceremony in the school's iconic Earl Crabbe Gym. In 15 years of coaching all levels of cross country and track at Placer, Fee led his squads to 42 league championships and established himself as one of the all-time coaches at the school. A 1969 graduate of Placer High, Fee played baseball and ran cross country during his time on The Hill. He went on to play baseball for Oregon State before returning home to Auburn and working as a lineman and senior program manager for PG&E for 37 years. Fee credits his association at an early age with Placer legends Ralph LeFebvre and Jug Covich as having a profound and positive influence on him. Covich hired him in 1972 to coach the freshman baseball team and LeFebvre was his coach in high school. "While coaching at Placer, Uncle Ralph and I would shoot baskets before my practice," Fee said. "I learned so much about coaching and life from our time together." One of Fee's most important mentors was Pat Tyson, now the head cross country coach at Gonzaga who taught Fee his passion for running and how to motivate his runners. He also credits PHS Athletic Director Marek Lee for his guidance and his assistant coach John Krogsrud for his wisdom. Fee's boys and girls varsity cross country teams won 27 league championships and 11 Sac-Joaquin Section championships. Eight of his individual runners became section champions, and his 2004 girls varsity team won the state championship. Sixteen of his runners have competed at the collegiate level. Fee has been recognized for his accomplishments. He was named Sacramento Bee Coach of the Year twice, Sacramento Running Association Coach of the Year, and SFL and PVL Coach of the Year 11 times. He credits the Auburn environment for helping his coaching success, saying, "I've always felt that because of where we ran in the American River Canyon that it makes us just a little better prepared." Although running in the canyon has its challenges. "We've encountered mountain lions, bears and too many rattlesnakes to count," he said, adding, "We always trained in groups, so I felt confident my runners were safe." One key to his success was the strenuous practices he put his athletes through. On race days, Fee told his runners not to be nervous. "If you want to be nervous," he told them, "have it be about those Monday and Wednesday workouts you're gonna have to do." But Fee knew how to keep the fun element in his workouts. "With a sport as demanding as cross country, you have to get creative," he said. Fee broke up the intensity of the workouts with brunches after long weekend runs, spaghetti carbo-load dinners the night before important races and Slurpee runs to 7-Eleven on an easy practice day. "My greatest joy in coaching has always been the relationships I developed with my athletes," he said. Fee has turned his endless enthusiasm and passion for Placer High into creating the Athletic Hall of Fame Room in the Earl Crabbe Gym. His efforts include new trophy cases, and collecting and displaying memorabilia and trophies from the past. He was also instrumental in the recent gym renovation that features an Earl Crabbe Plaza, commemorative bricks, signage, lighting and historical markers and benches. A reception will begin at 6 p.m., followed by the induction ceremony at 7. Tickets for the reception cost $25 until April 15 and $35 after, and are available online at available online at https://placerathletics.bpt.me. The ceremony is free of charge to the public.