Who was Fred Thomas?

Fred Thomas

Fred Thomas was born December 23^rd, 1923 at the Hotel Dieu Hospital in Windsor, ON. He was one of eight children born to Fred Thomas, Sr of Windsor and Edith Mae Jones of Chatham. The Thomas family lived in the McDougall Street area, a vibrant Black community described more fully on the We Were Here digital project. The family first lived on Goyeau near Giles and then on McDougall Street near Erie.

Fred Thomas, Jr attended Victoria Avenue and Mercer Street Public Schools where he participated in basketball, softball, and track and field.

Hotel Dieu, Windsor, Ontario

Windsor High Schools, 1916

When Thomas graduated from Patterson Collegiate high school in 1943 he and three other Patterson athletes enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) in June. The RCAF’s “colour line” policy had been lifted in 1942 allowing him to enlist. Thomas was stationed at Windsor, Ottawa, and Halifax. In 1944, during his RCAF training, Thomas  played baseball for the Halifax Air Force team in the Halifax Defense League.

In 1945, at the end of WWII, Thomas received an honourable discharge from the RCAF and returned to Windsor where his athletic career in baseball and basketball took off. He enrolled at Assumption College in the fall of 1945 and graduated with a BA in 1949. After graduation he pursued a career in three different professional sports— basketball, baseball, and football. When injury brought his professional athletic career to an end, he became a highly regarded Phys Ed and Math teacher in Toronto. On April 11, 1981, shortly before he passed away from cancer at age 57, a dinner to honour Fred Thomas was held at the Teutonia Club in Windsor. It was announced at this event that a park in the McDougall Street area would be renamed “Fred Thomas Park” in celebration of his accomplishments.

Since his passing, he has been inducted into the following Sports Halls of Fame:

• 1981    Windsor-Essex County Sports Hall of Fame
• 1986    University of Windsor Alumni Sports Hall of Fame
• 1994    Afro-American Hall of Fame. Thomas was one of two international players inducted that year. Pele was the other.
• 1995    Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame
• 2021    Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame
• 2024    Canadian Sports Hall of Fame Order of Sport (Athlete Category)

When he was inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame Thomas received the highest level of sports recognition in Canada.  His induction can be watched at this link. 

In the induction ceremony, Thomas’  son, Frederick Dennis Thomas, recalled his father's hard work, dedication, and perseverance and passion for sports. But, as Dennis Thomas commented, his true strength was his character. His father, said Dennis,  was “an extremely positive person who chose to see the good in all people." When his father was asked about his experiences with discrimination, Fred Thomas replied that he believed that “discrimination is everywhere. It's whether you choose to see it.”  Frederick Dennis Thomas reflected on these powerful words saying his father “simply refused to see discrimination and use it as an excuse. He would rather look at ways to succeed rather than blame things for not succeeding.” Mr Thomas was survived by his wife Arminta and sons Greg, Anthony, and Dennis and left a lasting legacy both on and off the sports field.