Fred Thomas

Fred Thomas (December 26, 1923 – May 20, 1981) was a Canadian multi-sport professional athlete. He played on semi-professional or professional teams in basketball, baseball, and Canadian football. He was a standout on his college basketball team and is known as one of Canada's finest basketball players. A 2019 profile by TVOntario described Thomas as "the greatest Canadian athlete you've never heard of". He would likely have been more well-known had blacks not been denied opportunities to compete in major professional sports leagues in the 1940s and 1950s. Early life and education Thomas grew up in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. He was a fifth-generation Canadian whose ancestry can be traced to enslaved Africans fleeing North Carolina and Barbadian immigrants. His parents were Charles Fred Thomas and Edith May Thomas. He had seven siblings; one brother and six sisters. He was the second oldest and his athletic prowess let him excel at many sports. He attended high school at the J. C. Patterson Collegiate Institute in Windsor, beginning in the late 1930s. He was a football and track star there, competing in hurdles, high jump, sprints, long jump and triple jump. He also led the basketball team to a provincial championship, beating Ottawa Glebe Collegiate in Toronto for the All-Ontario Basketball Title. He graduated in 1943 and then enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force. He earned his wings shortly before the end of World War II. After being discharged from the service, he enrolled at Assumption College where he became known as one of the country's best basketball players. He played four years under coach Stanley Nantais. In 1945, the Harlem Globetrotters, who were "widely considered the best team in the world", were defeated by the Assumption basketball team 49–45. A 1952 newspaper article said Thomas "was a constant thorn in the side of his visitors" and "His terrific speed enabling him to leap high into the air after burning down the floor to break up passing plays. His performance was amazing and the most amazed were the confused Globetrotters."