Thiele “Fred” Harvey.

Paratrooper. Marine. Football coach.

He was unlike anyone else. He didn’t go through life passively. He was engaged. Engaged with life and actually living it. Always looking for new ways to improve himself and those around him.

When WWII started, Fred joined the Marine Corps as soon as he could. His mother’s parting words to him were these,

“Thiele Fred Harvey, I have three things for you to remember. 1. Come home. 2. Don’t come home with no tattoos. 3. Don’t come home no drunk.”

Fred used to say he was more afraid of his Comanche Indian mother than he ever was of the Japanese.

During the war Fred served with the Fifth Marine Division, earning the Silver Star on Iwo Jima and followed by a Purple Heart after taking 3 grenades. Because of his war wounds, Fred was never able to have biological children, but he adopted a son and a daughter, and he was a father figure to the dozens and hundreds of boys he coached football during his 40-year coaching career.

The last few weeks of Fred’s long and adventurous life, he received countless phone calls from the boys he had coached and inspired. Over and over again these lines were repeated: “Coach - you were the first man that taught me it was okay to say, “I love you, man.”

“Guys think it’s sissy to say I love you to one another. They think it’s only for girlfriends or a wife. But it’s not. It’s manly. I love my guy friends. And it’s important they know that.”
Fred Harvey

He loved people. He never knew a stranger. And he would drive across the country for a visit if he knew it would make someone happy. But Fred’s real passion was education and children. He loved children of all ages. And would always take the time to talk and offer advice or encouragement. He was the father figure that he never had, and he deeply believed in investing in the next generation.

This is why we established the Fred Harvey Scholarship, as a way of honoring Fred’s legacy and continuing his name. Each program a student will be selected to carry on his name and story - learn about his actions and the brave lads he served with in WWII.

We hope to do honor and justice to Fred’s beautiful life.

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