Lee Ice was born and raised in Lawrence, Kansas and considers himself blessed for never having to leave, according to a KU Athletics interview conducted in April 2014. For as long as he can remember, he wanted to play baseball for the University of Kansas.
Growing up in Lawrence, Lee was coached by his father, Al Ice. During this time, Lee played in the American Legion league. Lee went to Lawrence High School and was hopeful to be recruited by KU after graduation. At the time, Floyd Temple was KU’s baseball coach. Temple served as the head baseball coach from 1976 to 1981.
“I knew Coach Temple really well. I really wanted to go there out of high school,” Ice said, “but Temple told me I wasn’t big enough, I was a buck forty coming out of high school.”
Setting aside his dream to play baseball for KU, Lee went to Indian Hills Community College in Iowa to continue his baseball career.
“I’m like a lot of Lawrence kids,” Ice said. “First time away from home I didn’t handle it very well so I came home. My high school graduating class was bigger than the community college.”
Lee was able to enroll in Johnson County Community College and walk on to their baseball team in the fall of 1975. He made all-conference his freshman year as a Johnson County Community College Cavalier. After a successful freshman season, Lee received exciting news.
“A scout from the New York Yankees sent me to Fort Dodge, Iowa to play collegiate summer ball,” Ice said. “That summer is when it really took off. I swung the bat really well and made all-conference in the Iowa League and made all shortstop in the summer of ‘75.” Lee Ice reconnected with one of his long-time friends, Carl Heinrich, while playing in Iowa.
Carl Heinrich had played American Legion ball with Lee Ice and was coached by Al, Lee’s father. Heinrich had been recruited by KU to play baseball out of high school.
“I have known Lee all my life. He is one year younger and has been like a brother for all these years,” Heinrich said. “His father Al was a father figure to me and one of the best baseball coaches I ever had.”
Finally, Ice was offered the opportunity he wanted all along: the chance to play baseball for the University of Kansas. Ice transferred to KU in the fall of 1976. Lee wanted to work harder than everybody else and felt like if given an opportunity, he could prove it.
“I remember our first triple header, against William Jewel, I got to start,” Ice recalls. “Bottom of the seventh I put down a suicide squeeze, we win the game and I start the next three years. I believe that if I had not gotten that bunt down, the other shortstop would have been given an opportunity.”
Ice played shortstop at KU and hit second in the lineup his sophomore year. As Ice continued to improve throughout his sophomore season, he was given the role of captain during his junior and senior seasons in the years ‘77 and ‘78. Ice hit third in the lineup during these seasons and had a steady batting average of .356.
“Lee was a very good left-handed hitter and defensive player,” said Heinrich. “He was an unselfish player and very competitive.”
Ice was counting on his junior season to be the year that he was going to come out and achieve his aspiration of playing in the big leagues. Ice was bypassed by the major league draft his junior year despite his great performance at KU that season. Despite going into his senior season with what he remembers to be a pretty bad attitude, Ice led the team in RBI’s, runs, and walks.
Ice was contacted by the Kansas City Royals after the draft and was signed as a free agent. He traveled to Fort Meyers, Florida and began playing third base for the Royals Double A affiliate. He made the All-Star team his rookie year but because he was an unsigned free agent, future trades did not work in his favor.
“I kind of saw the writing on the wall,” Ice said. “They wanted to make Darrell Motley into a third baseman, I didn’t hit with much power, and I couldn’t run out of sight before dark.”
Ice returned to Lawrence after being released by the Royals organization. He was set on that if he couldn’t play, he was at least going to coach. Ice returned to KU as a graduate assistant coach for the baseball team in 1983 and stayed until 1990. During his time as an assistant coach, Ice earned a masters in sports administration. Ice served as an assistant coach to Marty Pattin from 1983-1987, and then as an assistant to Dave Bingham when he took the head coaching job in 1988. Ice also served as a basketball coach at Lawrence High School from 1980-1985.
“Even after 1990 when I left to work for the city as a youth sports supervisor, I started coaching American Legion Baseball and did that for ten seasons,” Ice said. “I figured out why my dad did it for free - it’s not about what you get paid, it’s the gratification you get from the kids who go on to be successful in other things.”
In 2009, Ice was offered the opportunity to coach the Lawrence Free State High School softball team. When Ice was released from the Royals organization, he played fastpitch softball with Haskell University and fell in love with the sport. He is still the head coach at Free State and has won two state championships in the last two years. Ice has enjoyed it as much as any baseball that he has coached and feels that it is the same game as what baseball used to be before the three-run home run.
“There’s a lot of things you learn about while coaching: How to be compassionate, how to listen, and that it’s not always about winning,” Ice said. “The success that you have as a coach is not measured by your wins and losses, it’s really more about the kids that you have within your program that go on to do bigger and better things.”
Ice knows that he has been fortunate to coach players like Danny Manning, Lee Stevens, Kevin Hooper, and others, but does not feel that this is the best part of coaching. He feels that the best part of coaching is the players that do not go on to make a living in their sport, but the ones that are contributing to the world in other ways.
“When I became the youth sports supervisor, I tried to take everything I learned from all these different people,” Ice said. “I tried to educate young parents that it’s not just about the game, there’s more to it than that.”
Ice is still the youth sports supervisor for Lawrence Parks and Recreation, is on the K Club board, and is on the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame Committee. He plans to continue coaching for the foreseeable future.
“I plan to coach until it’s not fun anymore for me. If it becomes a job and I don’t enjoy going to practice, I’ll stop,” Ice said. “I’ve got a few more years in me I hope. It’s been a pretty cool ride.”
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