Fred Thompson (May 21, 1933 – January 22, 2019) was an American lawyer and

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

coach. A graduate of

Boys High School Single-sex education, also known as single-gender education and gender-isolated education, is the practice of conducting education with male and female students attending separate classes, perhaps in separate buildings or schools. The practice of ...

, where he was a track athlete, City College of New York and St. John's University School of Law, he was an Assistant Attorney General of the

State of New York New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. state ...

from 1967 to 1969. As a coach he founded the Atoms Track Club in 1963.

Athletics coaching career

Prior to

Title IX Title IX is the most commonly used name for the federal civil rights law in the United States that was enacted as part (Title IX) of the Education Amendments of 1972. It prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or any other educat ...

, athletic opportunities for boys were plentiful, while girls were left out, particularly at the scholastic level. Out of frustration, Thompson created a program in a Bedford-Stuyvesant community center in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. His team of 40–50 girls, age 9 and up, practiced in hallways and jumped fences into schoolyards after dark in order to train; later, the Pratt Institute made facilities available. In 1974, Thompson founded the Colgate Women's Games. Among Thompson's success stories were Olympic silver medalist Cheryl Toussaint; Gold and Silver medalist Diane Dixon, who was also two time World Indoor Champion; and silver medalist

Grace Jackson Grace Jackson-Small (born 14 June 1961) is a Jamaican former athlete who competed mainly in the 100 and 200 metres. She won an Olympic silver medal in the 200 metres at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, and is a former Jamaican record-holder ...

who finished second to

Florence Griffith-Joyner Florence Delorez Griffith Joyner (born Florence Delorez Griffith; December 21, 1959 – September 21, 1998), also known as Flo-Jo, was an American track and field athlete. She set world records in 1988 for the 100 m and 200 m. During the late 1 ...

's 200 meter world record. In 1988, Thompson was a coach for the U.S. Olympic Team. In 2019, Thompson was elected into the

National Track and Field Hall of Fame The National Track and Field Hall of Fame is a museum operated by The Armory Foundation in conjunction with USA Track & Field. It is located within the Armory Foundation (the former Fort Washington Avenue Armory) at 216 Fort Washington Avenue, ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Fred 1933 births 2019 deaths American track and field coaches St. John's University (New York City) alumni Boys High School (Brooklyn) alumni People with Alzheimer's disease City College of New York alumni 20th-century American lawyers