St. Bonaventure has a new Captain Beer. After four years in the student section of basketball games, Dominic Grecco will be passing on the mantle to junior finance major Jace Frazier.
Grecco, a senior management major, began wearing a beer mug hat to Bonaventure basketball games in the fall of 2018, during his freshman year of college. After receiving national attention for his passionate support of the Bonnies, Grecco became a lightning rod for fans and alumni. Without a traditional leader for the fan section, Grecco emerged as a recognizable face, leading chants at games and even creating his own brand of merchandise with local company Studio 4 East. When the Bonnies played at the University of Virginia in the NIT tournament this year, Grecco managed a successful fundraiser to cover transportation and housing costs for Bonaventure students.
For the past year, however, Grecco – partnered with the university’s athletic department – had been looking for someone to succeed him after he graduated. Seth Johnson, the university’s Assistant Athletic Director for Licensing and Fan Engagement, described how the personal nature of Captain Beer impacted the search.
“All great things start organically – it’s not something that you try to manufacture,” said Johnson. “Dom has been a great student leader: our alums have rallied around him and students have rallied around him. So we just felt with him moving on, we needed somebody to step in. He thought that keeping this brand – but creating more of a tradition of a student wearing the hat, rather than it being a single person – was the right way to do it. We kind of left it up to him to say, ‘Okay, this is your thing, not ours.’ You bring people forward and we’ll talk.”
While Grecco had been unsure of Captain Beer’s legacy, he also recognized that he took up a unique space in the Bonaventure community.
“When I was presented with the idea by Seth, he told me to think about it like this: in 20 or 30 years, I can be watching a Bonnies game with my family. The TV will show the student section and I will see a new Captain Beer. I thought about how cool of a tradition I could start at one of the best atmospheres in college basketball and that’s when this process all started,” said Grecco.
As the search began, Grecco focused on several key characteristics for the next Captain Beer.
“It was a year-long process; I was looking for a junior from that first game all the way to [the NIT semifinal game at] Madison Square Garden,” said Grecco. “The characteristics that I was looking for were not just a student that is loud, enthusiastic and passionate. I wanted a student who is also humble and respects his fellow Wolf Pack (a nickname for Bonaventure’s student section) members. Also, someone who was great with alumni: someone very personable, where alumni feel like they can go up and ask for a photo or start a conversation.”
Frazier entered the picture in March, after traveling to Washington, DC for the A10 Tournament and New York City for the NIT Tournament. While listening to Grecco on the Barstool Bench Mob podcast, he found that he fit the mold Grecco was looking for.
“I had talked to Dom a little bit in DC, kind of just feeling out what he had planned for Captain Beer,” said Frazier. “Then on Barstool Bench Mob, he said he was looking for someone who can lead and someone who’s passionate about the Bonnies. And I thought ‘Wow, I kind of fit that criteria.’ So I reached out to him that day on the way back from New York. We talked a little bit and then he ended up choosing me about a week and a half later.”
Frazier, a native of Franklinville, New York, has held a lifelong passion for the local college basketball team. While no one could truly replace Grecco, he knew he could bring his own spirit to Captain Beer.
After reaching out to Grecco, Frazier spoke with Johnson and other members of the athletic department. They discussed the role of Captain Beer going forward, with Frazier’s place in that legacy.
“With Jace, I think it’ll be a really good transition,” said Johnson. “We’ll see how it goes but I think it’s really important that we have somebody like that. Somebody that can carry on the tradition and have some fun with it, because it should be fun.”
Grecco’s place in the university’s sports ecosystem was solidified by his partnership with the athletic department in 2021. When Bonaventure introduced a new ticketing process for basketball games, Captain Beer made the announcement in a university-produced video.
“I know it feels like a long time ago but that was the first time we ever used somebody for that role,” said Johnson. “I said [to Frazier] that we want to do more of that in the future but we want that to be dictated by him. Basically how we’ll support it, providing some video and some lighting; stuff to make it a little bit more official and have some fun things that he can’t do on his own. We’re looking forward to it.”
Being a public figure for the past four years has not alway been easy for Grecco. While he stressed that it has been a once-in-a-lifetime experience, he also emphasized leaving at the right time.
“It’s been a crazy year and it has been nonstop with the Captain Beer stuff for a while. There is a lot of behind-the-scenes work that goes on that people don’t see or know about so I kind of just want to take a break for a second,” said Grecco. “I kind of just want to get back to being seen as Dom again.”
Grecco was a fan of Bonaventure basketball long before he put on the beer hat. Even after his graduation, that is unlikely to change.
“In the near future, I’m just going to relax and settle into the real world and my new job. However, I have a love for Bonnies basketball and come November I will be back in the Reilly Center showing the team my support,” he said. “Thank you to everyone who has embraced me and followed me. It’s been an amazing journey that wouldn’t have been possible without the support of alumni, fans and students. Thank you for everything.”
reillyt19@bonaventure.edu
