1998 Greater Flint African American Sports Hall of Fame Inductee
Category: Multiple Sports
Wayne Thomas was raised in Flint and attended Parkland Elementary, Emerson Junior High and graduated from Northern High School. Wayne also attended Flint Junior College (Mott Community College) and Central College in Chicago, Illinois. Wayne played on Flint Northern’s first state championship basketball team in 1933 along with Dotson Truss (GFAASHOF ’86 Inductee). He and Dotson were the only two black players on the Flint Northem State Championship Team.
Wayne also played second baseman on Northern’s baseball team with Luther (Speed) Williams who played first base. Wayne and Speed were the only two blacks on the baseball team.
While at Central College in Chicago, he played quarterback on Duke Slater’s All Star Football Team
Wayne was drafted into the U.S. Navy and played ball with Floyd Bates and Larry Doby at the Great Lakes Naval Base. After discharge from the service, he played ball for the Sioux City Baseball Team which was a franchise of the Kansas City Monarchs.
Wayne umpired for Flint’s baseball, softball, fast pitch and slow pitch teams for 25 years. He was the president of the Umpire’s Association for 10 years and selected to 15 State Tournaments as an Umpire. He umpired over 400 games in the IMA Slow Pitch League.
He was a member of the 1940 Yellow Dog Softball Team that was inducted into the 1996 Greater Flint African American Sports Hall of Fame.
Congratulations, Wayne Thomas, you have made your mark in Flint history.
