UNCP Football Alumnus Passes Away

PEMBROKE – Fred Locklear, a member of the first football team at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke in the late 1940s, has passed away. A celebration of life for Mr. Locklear, 86, was held on Sunday in Lumberton’s Friendship Missionary Baptist Church.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Junie and Catherine Locklear; three brothers, Roscoe, Esly and Eddie; five sisters, Edna Locklear, Sarah Jane Dial, Carrie Jones, Nancy Jones and Sophronia Jones.

Locklear served in the United States Army during World War II in Company I of 367th Infantry. He attended UNCP – then Pembroke State College - where he played on the college’s first football team and was an avid supporter and contributor of Braves Football. He married Katie Jacobs on Jan. 12, 1952. Together they raised one daughter, Wanda Locklear.

He retired from the United States Postal Service in 1980 and was a dedicated member of Friendship Missionary Baptist church, Veterans of Foreign Wars and Disabled American Veterans.

Locklear leaves to cherish his memory, his devoted wife of 57 years, Katie J. Locklear; a daughter, Wanda Kay Locklear and her children, Dexter E. Locklear, James Fredrick Tyler Locklear and Sierra C. Locklear, all of Pembroke; a great-grandchild, Chadon of Pembroke;

Janice Jones and children and Harold V. Locklear and a child of Pembroke; two sisters, Ella Bullard and Mildred Locklear; a brother, Curency Locklear; and a host of relatives and friends.

To send online condolences visit www.locklearandsonfuneralhome.com.