Fred Tootell

{{Short description|American hammer thrower (1902–1964)}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}

file:Fred Tootell, la champion olympique du lancer du marteau, en 1924.jpg

{{MedalTableTop||Men's athletics|nation=USA|medals=

{{Medal|Competition|Olympic Games}}

{{Medal|Gold | 1924 Paris | Hammer throw}}

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Frederick Delmont Tootell (September 9, 1902 – September 29, 1964) was an American athlete who competed mainly in the hammer throw.{{cite web|url=https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/79134 |title=Fred Tootell |work=Olympedia |access-date=1 October 2021}} He competed for the United States in the 1924 Summer Olympics held in Paris in the hammer throw where he won the gold medal. While participating the Olympics, Tootell was affiliated with the Boston Athletic Association.{{cite news |title=Fred slings a mean hammer |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2803890/frederic-delmont-tootell/ |access-date=May 28, 2020 |work=Journal Gazette |date=September 24, 1924}}{{cite news |title=Tootell able to swing mean hammer |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2803882/frederic-delmont-tootell/ |access-date=May 28, 2020 |work=News Herald |date=September 18, 1924}}

Tootell was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts and died in Wakefield, Rhode Island.{{cite news |title=Fred Tootell, former coach, dies in R.I. at 62 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/25488499/the-boston-globe/ |access-date=May 28, 2020 |work=Boston Globe |agency=Associated Press |date=September 30, 1964}}[https://web.archive.org/web/20200417173048/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/to/fred-tootell-1.html Fred Tootell]. Sports Reference. Retrieved 2019-08-17. Tootell graduated from Bowdoin College in 1923, where he played American football as a tackle and competed as a hammer thrower, and enrolled at Tufts University School of Medicine to maintain his eligibility for the 1924 Olympics.{{cite news |title=Frederic D. Tootell '23 |url=https://athletics.bowdoin.edu/information/history/hall/tootell |access-date=May 28, 2020 |publisher=Bowdoin College}} After Irish-born athletes had won the gold in the hammer throw for the United States for five straight Olympics, Tootell became the first American-born athlete to do so.

Beginning in 1925, he began a 39-year-long affiliation with the University of Rhode Island. He was professor of physical education, and coached the tennis, track, and cross country teams.{{cite news |title=Services Friday for Fred Tootell |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/25488534/the-north-adams-transcript/ |access-date=May 28, 2020 |work=North Adams Transcript |agency=Associated Press |date=October 1, 1964}} Between 1953 and 1962, Tootell served as the university's athletic director. The school's Tootell Physical Education Center was named for him,{{cite news |last1=Lavallee |first1=Dave |title=Legendary URI coach Tootell's granddaughter plays for women's basketball team |url=https://today.uri.edu/news/legendary-uri-coach-tootells-granddaughter-plays-for-womens-basketball-team/ |access-date=May 28, 2020 |publisher=University of Rhode Island |date=April 11, 2005}} and his home, the Tootell House, in Kingston, Rhode Island is on the National Register of Historic Places. Tootell was posthumously elected to the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame in 1968.{{cite news |title=Frederick D. Tootell |url=http://www.riheritagehalloffame.com/inductees_detail.cfm?iid=319 |access-date=May 28, 2020 |publisher=Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame}}

He married Anne Parsons in 1926. After they divorced in 1935,{{cite news |title=Tootell divorce paves way for new romance |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/25489255/the-boston-globe/ |access-date=May 28, 2020 |work=Boston Globe |date=July 25, 1935}} Tootell married Lucy Rawlings Tootell.{{cite news |title=Frederick Tootell, track coach, was 62 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/10/01/frederick-tootell-track-coach-was-62.html |access-date=May 28, 2020 |work=New York Times |date=October 1, 1964}}