Fred Thompson (May 21, 1933 – January 22, 2019) was an American lawyer and track and field coach.
Thompson died from complications of Alzheimer's disease at his home in Brooklyn, New York, on January 22, 2019.
[2] Prior to Title IX, 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.
[3] 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.