Fred Spiegelberg (October 4, 1919 – March 22, 1996) turned Medford High into a football dynasty and left a large-enough mark on high school athletics that the town named the stadium after him.
A native of Okanogan country in North Central Washington, Spiegelberg boxed and played football collegiately at Washington State in 1939-41, then entered WWII war as an Army captain and served with honor. He received two Bronze Stars and a Purple Heart after being wounded in France. His first coaching experience came in post-war Berlin with a service
championship team.
Then after one season back at WSC, he followed Bill Bowerman as coach and teacher at Medford and led the Black Tornado to 253 wins and four state titles in 31 years as head coach. In 1971, he was named National Coach of the Year.
Under Spiegelberg, the Black Tornado reached the state final nine times, beginning in 1956 against Marshfield, and ending in 1980 versus Beaverton. Medford won the championship in 1959, 1962, 1969 and shared the large-schools title with Churchill in 1977. His teams won a total of 22 league crowns.
Medford renamed its home Spiegelberg Stadium in 1983 at Fred’s retirement party.
Spiegelberg was inducted to the National Athletic Coaches Hall of Fame in 1990. He is also a member of the Medford Hall of Fame and the Washington State University Hall of Fame.