Obituary of Frederick Hood

Fred died peacefully on January 24 at Highline Senior Residence. Fred was born in 1936 to his mother Mattiemae Davenport who was from west Texas, and his father Frederick Brown Hood, Sr. who hailed from Copperhill, Tennessee. Fred’s father died of tuberculosis when Fred Jr. was four years old. Fred Jr. and his brother Don were raised by Mattiemae who never remarried following the death of Fred Senior.

Fred is survived by his son Kevin, daughters Mardi and Joni along with Kevin’s wife Brenda and their son Noah, and Joni’s husband Kory. Fred met and married Oklahoma native Pat in college. Following their 1975 divorce Fred married Joy in 1979 and they were married 36 years prior to Joy’s ovarian cancer diagnosis that took her life in 2015 after a six-year struggle.

Fred was one of Colorado’s best three-sport athletes during the time he attended Wheat Ridge High School. The Denver Post captured his story in a July 2014 article recounting his many athletic accomplishments including winning the state 440-yard dash, being named an all-state basketball player for two years, and in his junior season, leading the Farmers basketball team to the state championship. Fred was also a prominent football player in his sophomore and junior years playing end on both offense and defense. A thigh injury required surgery in his senior football season and limited his play to just the first and last games.

In spite of his high school senior year injury, his abilities attracted the University of Oklahoma coaching staff. In those days, the Sooners were archrivals of the University of Colorado, and Fred agonized over the attention he was getting from both schools. He was recruited by CU’s legendary head coach Dal Ward and nationally acclaimed Oklahoma coach, Bud Wilkinson. Ultimately, Fred picked Oklahoma where, in 1955, his junior year, they won the National Championship.

He, and some other players however, never really connected with Coach Wilkinson. So, prior to Fred’s senior year, he and several other Sooner teammates transferred to Northeastern Oklahoma State College for their senior years’. The team qualified for the small college Holiday Bowl championship ultimately winning the national title. Fred never lost a football game his entire college career.

After college and a brief experience with the Washington Redskins, Hood returned to Colorado and coached football at Jefferson High School. Hood was a teacher in Jefferson County, where he retired in 1992 at the end of his 31-year teaching/ coaching career.

Services are being planned for some time in the spring and will mostly likely take place somewhere in Wheat Ridge where Fred grew up. Link to Denver Post article: https://www.denverpost.com/2014/07/26/colorado-classics-fred-hood-three-sport-star-at-wheat-ridge-high/