California University of Pennsylvania Athletics

Playing one sport while in college is enough to keep any athlete busy today. Two sports would likely be too much. Hall of Fame inductee Fred Fleming did even more. He participated in three sports while attending California University of Pennsylvania, earning 11 varsity letters, the most ever by an individual in Cal history.

Fleming began his athletic career at Charleroi High School, from which he graduated in 1950. While at Charleroi, he played football, basketball and baseball and earned himself a place on the Washington County football second team honor roll. He also played in an all-star game.

From Charleroi High School, Fleming moved on to California and continued to participate in football and baseball for his four years and was elected both teams’ captain. He also played tennis for three years.

In 1951, Fleming was an offensive guard on the Pythian Bowl Team, the Vulcan squad which compiled a record of seven wins and two losses.

“When the football season was over, and then to be notified that we were going to a bowl game down in North Carolina that was really a big deal. We got to break out the equipment again. It was cold at the time, but we went outside and practiced. Then, we eventually packed up the gear to go and play. For many of us, it was our first plane flight,” said Fleming, who also was named to the All-Teacher’s College Team in 1952.

“We went to a southern town that was very hospitable. The people couldn’t have been better. That was one of the first times that we ran into racism, though, One guy (Clifford Paige) that we had on the team was not allowed to stay with us. He had to go out to a black college, which was on the outskirts of town. He played didn’t he game, but just couldn’t stay in the hotel and couldn’t eat in the restaurants in town, that really bothered the team,” he continued.

Not only did Fleming commit time to athletics at California, he also spent a lot of time as a member of the geography club, student cabinet, varsity club and the Student Activities Association. During his senior year, Fleming was elected president of the student Activities Association. He also served as a graduate assistant coach for the football team.

“I have good memories of college. I was always a pretty good student. I enjoyed classes. I enjoyed being in school and being on campus. I enjoyed the activities on campus, in between classes going over to the gym and playing handball, basketball and the intramural teams. I participated in many of the social activities,” Fleming said.

“School, as far as I was concerned, was a positive thing. I look back with fond memories. And, I think that is one of the things you can get out of a small college. When you walked down the campus, you knew the people. They used to have what they called the ‘P Room,’ a nickname for the Provincial Room. It was a big place where you could get something to eat like hamburgers and hot dogs. On the other side it was a dance floor. Many times professors were down there, and you would sit with the professors, sometimes for so long that they would forget their class. That was small college stuff,” he said.

When Fleming graduated from California in December 1954, he went into the army with a lot of others from the Monongahela Valley area. He served in the army from 1955 to 1957 and spent one of those years in Korea. While Fleming was stationed in Fort Knox in 1955, he played both football and baseball. He also played for Korea Baseball in the Far East Tournament and was eligible to play in the first Olympic baseball game in Melbourne, Australia.

“In 1956, I played for East baseball. I was playing for Korea, and they were having the Far East Tournament in Tokyo. We went there, and that year they were also going to have their first baseball game ever to be played at the Olympics with demonstration teams. They used the Far East Tournament to take the best amateur athletes to play for the demonstration team,” Fleming said.

“I had the opportunity to go back early to the United States in what was called ‘Operation Santa Claus.’ I was married and had a little girl at the time. The question was, ‘Do I stay to play in the Olympics or do I go home?’ So, I decided to go home,” he continued.

Fleming played baseball in both sandlot and semiprofessional leagues. He pitched the only perfect game in the semipro league in Fayette County.

When Fleming came home from the army, he began teaching American history at Monongahela High School, where he stayed until 1962. While teaching at Monongahela High School, he obtained a master’s degree from West Virginia University in 1958.

“Once I started to go to school, I think I went every year until I was about 40. I went to West Virginia University, Duquesne University, William & Mary, the University of Miami and Florida Atlantic University. Every semester, I went to school. I cannot imagine a semester that I didn’t go to school in the evenings or in the summer. I never got into a doctoral program, but I have 110 graduate hours in different areas-administration, school psychology and guidance services,” Fleming said.

In 1962, Fleming moved to Florida and worked as a guidance director at Northeast High School in Ft. Lauderdale from 1962 to 1965. From 1965 until 1973, he worked as the director of the guidance services in the Broward Country School District. In the early 1970s, Fleming also taught in the graduate school of Florida Atlantic University as an adjunct professor. Now, he is the director of tennis at the Quail Ridge Country Club in Boynoton Beach.

Fleming said that the most important matter to him is his family, who all live in Florida. He and his wife Norma have three children - Laurie, Carrie and Scott - and eight grandchildren. In fact, one of the awards that Fleming has received throughout the years was being named the tennis family of the year in Florida.

“To say we are a close family is an understatement. We do a lot together. At Christmas time, Easter and Thanksgiving, there are 2 or 22 people at the dinner table. They all live within five miles of my house. Most of my activities revolve around what they are doing. For summer vacations, we all go together to North Carolina and rent three or four cabins in the Smokies,” Fleming said.

Fleming wrote that it is “indeed a great honor to be selected to the Cal U. Athletic Hall of Fame. It will also be an honor being inducted into the Hall of Fame in the Natali Student Center. Elmo was, and still is a close friend and an outstanding player that I was privileged to play with.”

He said, “It is an honor to hear from the school saying that I was inducted. I didn’t take it lightly. I was really pleased. When you look back, those types of things get bigger and bigger.”