Supreme Court justice Fred Vinson rarely misses a home football or basketball game at Centre College, his alma mater. Now he’ll be one of the very few allowed inside the debate hall when the vice presidential candidates face off at Centre on October 5. So what’s the big deal? Fred Vinson has been dead since 1953.


Dead Fred Goes to the Debate

President Truman called Vinson “the man I depend on most.” But how does a man—even one as outstanding as Vinson—manage to make it to the candidates’ debate, not to mention those football games, long after his death?

Vinson has the brothers of Phi Delta Theta to thank. One of the chapter’s most illustrious members, Vinson was a loyal alumnus who maintained close ties to his fraternity in Danville. After he died, some of the brothers decided there was no reason he could not continue to attend the sporting events he had so enjoyed. They’ve been taking his portrait—affectionately known as Dead Fred—to the games ever since.


Dead Fred in the Debate Hall

Thus, although tickets are almost impossible to obtain, it seemed only natural that Centre’s Supreme Court justice should have a seat at the vice presidential debate. The Phi Delts will escort Dead Fred to a special seat overlooking the proceedings on Tuesday, October 3.


Fred Vinson, the man

• Grew up in jail (his father was the jailer and family’s living quarters adjoined the jail) in Louisa, Kentucky.

• Established a reputation for brilliance at Centre. He reportedly could recite the contents of his textbooks word for word, and he graduated in 1909 with the highest grade point average ever achieved at Centre up to that time.

• Served on the U.S. Court of Appeals (he was appointed by President Franklin Roosevelt) from 1938 to 1943.

• Held a series of high government posts, including secretary of the treasury.

• Was nominated as chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court by President Truman in 1946. Unanimously confirmed by the Senate, Vinson served as Chief Justice of the United States (the official title) until his death in 1953.
In an interesting Centre/Supreme Court legacy of civil rights, Vinson’s court wrote several decisions that helped overturn Plessy v. Ferguson, the landmark decision that made “separate but equal” the law of the land for more than 50 years. The lone dissenter in the original 1896 Plessy decision: Supreme Court justice John Marshall Harlan, Centre Class of 1850.


Centre Communications Office, 859-238-5719 (or 859-583-6896)