Fred Thompson a Shoals-born politician

"Colbert Heights Mountain: First Home of United States President Fred Thompson."

Imagine coming across that sign as you travel Colbert Heights Mountain, in the middle of Colbert County.

There is a possibility such a sign could exist - that is, if Fred Thompson were to throw his hat in the ring and win the 2008 presidential race.

Certainly, that's putting the cart before the horse. Thompson still is testing the waters before deciding whether to run for the Oval Office on the Republican ticket.

Thompson grew up in Lawrenceburg, Tenn., which is a few miles north of the Shoals, but the first two months of his life were spent at a house on top of the mountain.

The Shoals was a big part of his early years.

Thompson was born in Colbert County Hospital, now Helen Keller Hospital, in Sheffield in 1942.

He also attended Florence State College, which is now the University of North Alabama.

But he was raised in Lawrenceburg, a city with residents who are anxious for Thompson to decide if he'll make a bid for president.

Jan Clifton, who lived next door to the Thompsons for years, received a call from him a few months ago.

"He said, 'What do you think about someone from Lawrenceburg running for president?'" Clifton said. "I told him I didn't know he had it in him," she said, laughing.

Thompson's mother, Ruth Thompson, said she and her husband, Fletcher, lived in the Shoals for about six months.

"Fletcher was working at Reynolds, and we moved back to Lawrenceburg when Fred was about 2 months old," she said. "We lived out on Colbert Heights Mountain with my mother and daddy."

Her father, C.V. Bradley, worked for the Tennessee Valley Authority at the time.

After their son was born, Ruth Thompson said she and Fletcher decided to move back to Lawrenceburg.

Her parents later moved to a residence on Second Street in Tuscumbia, Ruth Thompson said.

She said the house on Colbert Heights Mountain was between a school and a church on the top of the mountain. She is unsure whether the house still exists.

She said the next time Fred Thompson lived in the Shoals was when he went to Florence State College.

He and his then-wife, Sarah Elizabeth Thompson, lived in a small house in Florence, Ruth Thompson said. "They were there about a year or longer."

Thompson was a student at Florence State from 1960 until 1962, when he and his wife transferred before the spring semester to then-Memphis State University. At Memphis, Thompson earned an undergraduate degree and went on to graduate from Vanderbilt's law school.

Those who attended Florence State with Thompson recall him as a personable young man who was more comfortable being called "Freddie."

"That's what he went by," said George Cudabac, a Sheffield native who was a student at Florence State from 1961 to 1966.

"I still remember he would be sitting in the Student Union Building playing bridge with coach (George) Gibbens," Cudabac said.

Cudabac said his now famous classmate "fit right in."

"He was very low key. He was just a regular guy," Cudabac said.

He recalled hosting an alumni gathering not long ago for Florence State and University of North Alabama graduates in Chattanooga, Tenn., where he now lives, when Thompson's name came up.

"We had about 35 people show up, and the main topic that night was that Fred Thompson was a schoolmate of ours," he laughed.

Lawrenceburg resident and longtime Thompson friend Jimmy "Chucky" Moore attended high school with Thompson. He said he always had a

feeling Thompson would go into politics.

Moore said people started calling Thompson "Fred" after Thompson moved back to Lawrenceburg and started practicing law.

"He came in and talked with my dad, and after he left, my dad said that (Fred) was going to make it in politics one day," Moore remembers. "It's really an amazing story. He's always worked hard, and the older he got, the harder he worked."

Tom Crews, a longtime friend who helped with Thompson's two U.S. senatorial campaigns in Tennessee, said Thompson's possible presidential run is the talk of Lawrenceburg.

"We're all excited about the possibility of his announcement," Crews said.

He said Thompson played football and basketball at Lawrence County High School.

"I'm six or seven years older than Fred, but I knew the family all my life," Crews said. "I really got to know Fred in 1970 when he moved back here, practicing law."

Thompson worked in the A.D. Lindsey law firm, Crews said.

"That's when he got into politics," Crews said.

Crews, a longtime member of the local Republican Party, recalls the day when Thompson talked with him about organizing a Young Republican Party in the county.

"He organized the first one here and worked hard for Bill Brock's campaign against Al Gore Sr.," Crews said.

In the early 1970s, Thompson was appointed a U.S. attorney. He and his wife, Sarah, moved to Nashville.

Thompson became well known, and Crews started hearing rumors about Thompson running for U.S. senator in 1994 to finish the term left vacant in 1992 when Al Gore was elected vice president. Thompson was re-elected to a six-year term in 1996.

"I wrote him a letter encouraging him (to run in 1992)," he said. "A couple of days later, I got a letter back that said, 'Tom, keep your powder dry.' In other words, get ready, he was going to run."

Thompson's childhood friends watch with interest, remembering their friend who graduated from Lawrence County High School in 1960.

Clifton remembers Thompson as someone who often pulled pranks, joked around and laughed.

"He was always fun to be around," she said. "In high school, especially, he was something else. He was the class clown.

"His daddy was the same way - Fletcher was worse than Fred. His joy was laughing and cutting up."

Crews said it would be nice to have Thompson elected president.

"A lot of the people who graduated with him want to hold their 50th reunion in the White House," he said laughing. "I sure hope they can, because I'd like to go with them."

Thompson's venture into acting sprang from a 1977 case in which he represented Marie Ragghianti, who was chairwoman of Tennessee's parole board.

Ragghianti had been fired when she refused to grant paroles to inmates who had bribed aides of then-Gov. Ray Blanton.

Thompson won the case challenging her dismissal, and the case's events became the subject of a movie, "Maria."

"When they made a movie about her, he played himself," Ruth Thompson said. "He had never been in acting before.

"He had always liked to try different things. They asked him to play himself and he said he would try. That's how the acting started."

Thompson's most recent role is as district attorney Arthur Branch on the popular prime-time drama "Law and Order." He joined the show in 2002.

Clifton said when they were growing up together, she wouldn't have imaged Thompson's future progressing the way it has so far.

"I knew he was very intelligent, very competitive and had a winning attitude," she said. "Whatever he tried to do, he had in his mind that he was going to win, and he usually did."

Clifton said he appreciated Thompson calling her and discussing the possibility seeking the presidency.

"I told him it was still hard to call him Fred, but I tried," she recalls. "But whether he becomes president or not, he'll always be Freddie."

Bernie Delinski can be reached at 740-5739 or bernie.delinski@timesdaily.com.

Tom Smith can be reached at 740-5757 or tom.smith@timesdaily.com.