Frederick Nielsen

Fred was born on October 6, 1937 in the small town of Creston, Iowa and was raised in the similarly-small town of Cherryvale in southeastern Kansas. Those small towns belied the man-of-the world he would become. After graduating from Kansas State College in Pittsburg, he taught and coached in the area for seven years before traveling the world doing the same in Philippines, Germany, Spain, Turkey and northern Italy. He met his wife, Kay Fowler of Chapel Hill, NC at Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines and they married in 1970. Together the two taught around Europe before moving to Cobb County in 1979. He spent the next sixteen years as Assistant Principal of Dickerson Middle School in East Cobb.

Fred began his track and field and basketball in Kansas during the golden years of the area's athletics, peaking with Jim Ryun's breaking the four-minute mile barrier in 1964. He coached and taught with a mild manner that in turn magnified the impact of his instruction. Fred's nonchalant track admonition "double your distance and you'll halve your competition," for instance, served as a life lesson on persistence.

Fred and Kay's time overseas fueled passions for skiing, furniture (Particularly Turkish rugs), food (He was mean on the grill) and especially wine. These all served him well in Atlanta where they settled seamlessly on Monterrey Drive in Marietta, behind Wheeler High School (Dickerson, where he also taught that fed Walton High School). Fred coached informally where he taught and formally at Northside Youth Organization with the same mild yet forceful manner that drove home his lessons. Surrounded by excellent athletes in Kansas, he seemed particularly hard to impress in Atlanta, and it made those that worked with him try that much harder.

Fred made friends in all walks of life. His overseas friends are scattered around Europe and he's known throughout Cobb County by ex-colleagues, neighbors, former students and their parents. Although Fred lacked an extended family of his own, his father dying when he was very young, through his resourcefulness he built a deep network of acquaintances who became friends, including his Dunkin group. While he was the recipient of favors from many a good buddy, he was more often providing for others. He enjoyed estate sales, finding furniture, sporting goods and anything catching his eye that he would in turn give to others. It seemed any item a friend might need, Fred had in his garage. He was truly a generous person and would always lend a hand where needed.

As to sports, and apart from coaching, Fred was all in on college and pro basketball, football, track and field. He could talk endlessly about strategy around these and immediately and accurately evaluate the potential of young athletes. He took to UNC basketball by virtue of his fellow Kansan Roy WIlliams. He frequented the Cremins-era Yellow Jackets games, quickly in-and-out from his secret parking space beside interstate 85 and the '96 Atlanta Olympics.

Fred leaves fond memories for Kay, his wife of 54 years, multitudes of former colleagues, students, parents, the morning coffee crew and a few that consider him a second father. He will be missed.

A Celebration of Fred's Life will take place on Friday, July 19th at 2 pm at Park Springs Retirement Community in Dekalb at 500 Springhouse Circle, Stone Mountain, Georgia.

In Lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the local food bank: Atlanta Community Food Bank.