Wake Forest Athletics
Former Deacon Pitcher Buck Fichter Passes
3/30/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Buck Fichter, a star pitcher on Wake Forest's 1955 College World Series Championship team, died March 23, 2016 in Williamsburg, Va.
Fichter posted an 8-2 career record as a Demon Deacon pitcher between 1955-57. He went 5-2 on the 1955 team including tossing a four-hitter to beat Virginia 4-2 to clinch the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship. . Buck was the second of three pitchers in the Deacons' championship game victory over Western Michigan. Fichter was the winning pitcher in Wake Forest's 8-5 win over NC State earlier in the season that gave the Deacons the championship of the first Dixie Classic Baseball Tournament
Born Wilbur Fichter in Kinston, N.C. on July 19, 1935, Buck graduated in 1957 with a degree in mathematics and joined the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, an organization that would become the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1958. While with NASA, Fichter earned a master's degree in engineering from Virginia Tech and then a PhD in engineering mathematics from NC State in 1969.
During his distinguished career, Buck helped America's space program, publishing many technical papers on esoteric subjects such as the vibration characteristics of critical aircraft structures, and predictable errors in antenna mesh structures.
Buck was predeceased by his wife, Ann, and is survived by his children and grandchildren. The family intends to host an event in "Celebration of Buck's Life" and the details of the event will be made at a later date.
