In recognition of Assumption College grad Fred Thomas (BA 1949) being honoured as a recipient of the Order of Sport from Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame, the Leddy Library has launched a digital exhibition titled “The Fabulous Fred Thomas: The Windsor Years.” This project celebrates Thomas as a multi-sport phenomenon, highlighting his achievements in basketball, baseball, and football during an era when Black athletes faced profound discrimination.

Born in 1923, Thomas grew up in Windsor’s historic McDougall Street neighbourhood, a vibrant Black community explored in the earlier Leddy Library project We Were Here. His sports legacy is deeply connected to Windsor and the University, where he was a record-setting basketball player at Assumption College.

Thomas made significant contributions to Canadian sports history, notably breaking barriers in professional baseball. In 1948, he became the first Black player in the Eastern League, and in 1949, the first Black Canadian and second Black athlete to play for the team. His accomplishments paved the way for future generations of Black athletes.

The exhibition features archival documents, photographs, and contextual essays curated from Leddy Library’s archives and special collections, as well as the Southwestern Ontario Digital Archive. It was led by collections and digital projects outreach librarian Heidi Jacobs, a key researcher behind the Breaking the Colour Barrier project, and author of 1934: The Chatham Coloured All-Stars’ Barrier-Breaking Year.

The project also features writing by Willow Key (MA 2024), the researcher behind We Were Here, who reflected on Thomas’ lasting impact:

“Fred Thomas’ legacy and achievements as one of Canada’s greatest multi-sport athletes reflect the strength, pride, and resilience of Windsor’s Black community and the historic McDougall Street Corridor,” she said. “This community provided the foundation necessary for Thomas to break barriers and pave the way for future generations of Black athletes. Recognition of this Canadian trailblazer is long overdue.”

Human kinetics professor Craig Greenham praised Thomas as a versatile athlete whose talents transcended the limits of his era.

“Thomas was a fantastic multi-sport athlete in ways that don’t really exist in the modern age — one of specialization that usually limits an athlete to one sport,” he said. “Thomas could do it all and at a really high level: basketball, baseball, football, track and field. I can’t think of a better athlete that came from this area.”

Jacobs emphasized the importance of recognizing Fred Thomas’ contributions.

“This exhibition provides images and writings from student newspapers, yearbooks, and some other archival sources. These documents and images reveal a fascinating and vital story that has much to teach us about Windsor and UWindsor history as well as about the connections between race and sports,” she said.

Explore the exhibition and celebrate the legacy of Fred Thomas by visiting The Fabulous Fred Thomas: The Windsor Years.