Frederick William Mcmahon

Fred McMahon, 84, passed away the morning of Saturday, August 3, 2024, after a brief battle with ALS. His Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated 11:30 AM, Tuesday, August 13, 2024, at Nativity Catholic Church, 1061 Folly Road, Charleston. The Rite of Committal will follow at St. Lawrence Cemetery. The family will receive friends between 5:00 and 7:00 PM, Monday evening at the James A. McAlister Funeral Home, 1620 Savannah Hwy.

Freddy was born in Charleston on September 15, 1939, and grew up on Grove Street, the first-born son of Gerald Frederick McMahon and Genevieve Kanapaux McMahon (both coaches at Bishop England). He was named after Dr. Frederick William Becker who became his father’s guardian when he was orphaned at age 13 in 1925. He spent his youth playing sports on Hampton Park Playground (now McMahon Playground) where his mother was, for many years, the playground supervisor.

As a youth, he excelled in baseball and basketball, particularly as a left-handed pitcher and first baseman.

At Bishop England he was the Co-captain of the basketball team and was crowned “Mr. Bishop England” in 1957. Freddy graduated from Clemson in 1961 with a degree in Electrical Engineering and went on to serve in the Army as a Lieutenant at Ft. Bliss, Texas and then in Germany as part of the NATO forces.

After returning to Charleston, he was employed as an engineer at the Charleston Navy Yard. After a few years he, along with boyhood buddy Sandy Goldberg, decided to check out the bright lights of the fast-growing city of Atlanta. He worked for the Federal Power Commission, then Xerox and finally the Honeywell Corporation.

Twenty or so years later, he returned to his beloved Charleston and was employed at NAVELEX, later SPAWAR, until his retirement.

Among his accomplishments, he was a Past Grand Knight of the Knights of Columbus where he had the idea for and instituted the First Annual Turkey Day Run in 1978. He was a past president of the South Carolina Irish Historical Society, and was an Honorary Life Member of the Hibernian Society.

Freddy stayed active in sports, playing softball with various teams, and beceme very active in the local tennis leagues. He won several City Tennis Championships in doubles in his age group. He took up golf late in life and was known good-naturedly as “Nine Hole Freddy” at the Muni, where he played weekly with his life-long friends, Carl Forsberg, Denny Patrick, Kenny Walters and Cream Jenkins.

He is survived by his brother Gerald F. McMahon, Jr., his nieces, Deanne Lucas (Charlie), Maire McMahon Davitt (Lou) and Sarah Bridges Hales (Kevin), a nephew, Gerald Lawrence Lucas (Amy), grand-nieces, Mary Ellen Doscher and Margaret Lucas, grand-nephews, William Doscher, Basil Lucas, Bailey Lucas and George Hales, and a great grandniece, Giselle Dos Santos. He was predeceased by his parents and his sister, Judy McMahon McDowell, a sister-in-law, Judge Judy Lentine McMahon and brother-in-law, Robert H. McDowell.

Please consider a contribution in Freddy’s name to the Bishop England Triple B Club at 295 Seven Farms Drive, Suite C-172, Charleston, SC 29492; this is the sole funding source for all Bishop England High School athletics, a club started in the 1940’s by his Freddy's father.

Arrangements by James A. McAlister, Inc. (843) 766-1365.