Brenda Cliette Thomas - Class of 2019 Inductee
Channel: Georgia Sports Hall of Fame
Date: 2019-03-06

Athletic honors are nothing new for Brenda Cliette Thomas. Considered the most talented female athlete to come out of Macon, Cliette has shown her outstanding athletic talent in basketball and track and field. 

Growing up in Macon, Georgia, she led Northeast High School to a pair of State Championships in Girls Basketball as well as two in track and field in the early 1980s. 

At Florida State University, she continued to excel in both sports. During her freshman season in basketball, she averaged 13.5 points and 9.5 rebounds as the Seminoles finished with a 24-6 record and made their first-ever appearance in the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament. Due to her concentration on track and field, she did not play basketball again until her senior season where she averaged 14.9 points and 10 rebounds. Her highest scoring game came as a freshman when she scored 24 points against both Nebraska and Army and her highest rebounding mark came as a senior when she pulled down 21 against Rice.

Track and field is where Cliette’s athleticism shined. She was a three-time All-American as a freshman at the NCAA Championships in 1983.  She would later be named FSU Female Athlete of the Year. As a sophomore, Cliette was a four-time All-American in the sprints and helped lead the Seminoles to the outdoor National Championship. During her career in track and field, Cliette won gold medals at the World University Games, the Pan American Games, the Goodwill Games, and the U.S. Olympic Festival. She was chosen as an alternate in the 200 meters for the U.S. Olympic Track Team that completed at the 1988 Games in Los Angeles.

Cliette was inducted into the Macon Sports Hall of Fame in 2003 and the Florida State Athletic Hall of Fame in 2007. She has also had an accomplished and historic career with the Macon-Bibb County Fire Department in her hometown. She joined the department in 1990, after graduating from Florida State. In 2016, she became the first female in the department to earn the rank of Fire Chief. She serves as the Fire Prevention Director.