J Fred Singleton

I was born Joseph Frederick Singleton, but at an early age my family called me either “Fred” or “Freddie”. From the late 1950s through the early 1970s I grew up in Mount Vernon, New York (it borders the Bronx), which at the time was a multi-cultural, great place to live. My parents Joseph and Lucille, a postal executive and insurance underwriter, respectively, provided a loving home for me and my older brother Ken.

Like so many young men of that era, I was drawn to playing baseball and basketball, but in the late fall of my sophomore year I tried out for the Mount Vernon High School indoor track team – a decision which forever changed my life. Inspired by the seniors on the team and by my two coaches Dave Rider and Bob Brooke, two men who are on my personal Mount Rushmore, I instantly loved the sport. By the end of my senior year I was a three-time state champion and national champion in two hurdle races.

Accepting a scholarship to Penn State University, I had four good years of running, culminating, in 1974, in being a co-captain of Coach Harry Groves’ ICAAAA championship team – the first for the Nittany Lions since 1959.

Returning home after graduation, I was hired by the White Plains School District as a history teacher, assigned to the high school’s alternative school, the White Plains Community School – a position and location I kept for thirty-six years. I loved being in the classroom and being around my colleagues. In my third year, I was hired as the assistant track coach, where I forged a strong coaching relationship and life-long friendship with Nick Panaro, who had also run for Dave Rider. Presently in my forty-first season of coaching in the district, I am so very thankful for the many thousands of people I have met either in our school district or from other schools– coaches, officials and of course, the athletes. I have been very fortunate.

Today I am retired from the classroom but still teaching on the track. I’m meet director for one of the largest high school track meets in the United States, the Glenn D. Loucks Games (www.theloucksgames.org). My wife Margo, a hair stylist in Bedford Hills, NY, is the sweetest person in the world – my real soul mate and the most understanding person I’ve ever met. My daughter Amanda is a teacher at a private school in the White Plains area. She remains the source of great pride for me. Finally, I am related to two professional athletes. My brother Ken, a former major league baseball player (Mets, Expos and Orioles), has been a great inspiration to me and a great big brother. My cousin, Glenn "Doc" Rivers is one of the top coaches in the NBA.

I hope that you enjoy my view of a presidential election in crisis, and after reading it, I hope that you’ll contact your representatives and senators and ask them to amend the Constitution.