THE BEST
OF YOUR LIFE
INSPIRING PEOPLE
A Worthy Professor
He once taught Martin Luther King Jr. Now a legendary
debate coach shares his secret for learning and living
Thomas F. Freeman, Ph.D., is a busy debate-team coach and philosophy
professor, so it’s no surprise he often works 12-hour days and eats lunch at his
desk. The surprise is that he’s 92. Forgoing vacations and sick days, Freeman
has taught for 69 years ( 63 of those at Texas Southern University in Houston)
while preaching at Houston’s Mt. Horem Baptist Church and traveling every-
where from Hungary to South Africa with his debate team. TSU has won first
place at the annual International Forensics Association Tournament three
times in the past 10 years, competing against as many as 20 schools.
studies in places like Austria and
Ghana—requires less experienced
debaters to repeat speeches until
they’re spot-on. “We’ve never gone
to a tournament and not gone all the
way to the finals—for 40 years,” he
says with pride. His motto: You don’t
always have to win,
but you do have to do
your best. He’s drilled
that philosophy into
all his students,
from Martin Luther
King Jr. (back when
Freeman lectured at
DECADES OF
DEDICATION
Freeman is so
focused on
teaching that
he hasn’t taken
a sick day in the
past 63 years.
Morehouse College) to Barbara Jordan
(the late Texas congresswoman).
Freeman also trained the cast of
Denzel Washington’s 2007 film The
Great Debaters, prepping the actors in
a multiday “boot camp.” (To Washington’s delight, the actors defeated
Freeman’s students in one debate.)
And to recognize Freeman’s achievements, TSU established the Thomas F.
Freeman Honors College in 2009.
Married to his wife, Clarice, for 57
years, he grew up middle class in segregated Richmond, Virginia, one of 15
kids. (Only 12 made it into adulthood.)
In the 1950s, when black students
were barred from intercollegiate
debate championships, he created a
contest for historically black colleges,
disbanding it when schools were
integrated. But he’s not bitter about
segregation, calling it “a part of history, something that happened.” Now
Freeman is excited about his next international debate competition, to be
held in Rome this March. Until then,
there are classes to teach, sermons to
preach, and students to coach. “You
learn to do by doing,” he says. “You
don’t learn to swim by reading a book
and following instructions. You get in
the water and swim.” —Teresa Wiltz
