Fred Williams is a friend to MATC and a friend to any athlete lucky enough to be coached by him. What more can you say about a man who started the now nationally renowned baseball MATC team; coached cross country for 21 years; and began the MATC Track and Field program back in 1971. Year after year, Fred has provided the logistics as MATC's cross county coordinator, and performs the same vital role for the track program. His gentle manner befits the “Father” of several MATC sports. When Fred began his career at MATC in 1971, he started and took the helm of the Trojan baseball team, a position he held for 11 years. His 1974 team won the NJCAA Region XIII Championship, but lost in the District Playoffs just prior to the NJCAA World Series.
Fred served as the cross country coach for over two decades. During that time, he produced six individual National qualifiers for the men, and nine for the women. His 1989 men’s team won its first NJCAA Region XIII Championship, qualifying for the NJCAA National Meet. In 1992-93, his Cross Country team won the first MATC team academic award.
Now we turn to Track and Field, which Fred started with one athlete in 1986. Three years later, MATC student-athlete Charlotte Rittmeyer, a member of the 1989 team, earned the college’s first All-American title for a female athlete. All told, Fred has dedicated 50 years to coaching baseball, cross country, and track and field, and still managed to make time to raise a family with is wife Joyce.
Madison College's Fred Williams passes away
