Fred Plump

Fred "Coach" Plump (born 1947) is a retired Birmingham firefighter, founder of the Piper Davis Youth Baseball League, president of the Magic City Youth Football League, and a former state legislator, representing Alabama House District 55 from 2022 to 2023.

Plump was drafted into the U.S. Army and served a one-year tour in Vietnam. He then went to work for the Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service and began a 37-year career in the Alabama National Guard.

In 1972 Plump filed a race-discrimination suit against the Fire Department and won. Another suit filed a decade later asked the department to begin a 1:1 hiring policy to overcome past race discrimination. He retired in 2004 as a lieutenant in the department.

In 2006 Plump ran unsuccessfully as a democrat in the race to represent Alabama House District 57. He was elected to the State Democratic Executive Committee later that same year.

Plump filed a federal lawsuit against Governor Bob Riley when he appointed George Bowman to fill Larry Langford's unexpired term on the Jefferson County Commission. The Jefferson County Election Commission ignored the appointment and scheduled a special election to coincide with presidential party primaries on February 5, 2008. A three-judge panel ruled in Plump's suit that the appointment should have not been made without approval of the U.S. Department of Justice, but did not rule on the question of Riley's authority to make an appointment, given such approval.

Though he did not initially intend to run in the election, Plump was convinced by friends to put his name in the hat. If elected, he pledged to fight for Cooper Green Mercy Hospital and the county-run Ketona Nursing Home and to work for affordable housing, public transit and better schools. He also pledged to commit a portion of his Commission salary toward helping seniors with utility bills. He finished fourth in that election, behind William Bell, Bowman, and Eric Major.

Plump was a candidate for District 57 again in the 2010 Democratic Party primary, finishing second behind Merika Coleman.

In the 2022 Democratic Party primary, Plump challenged District 55 incumbent Roderick Scott and edged him out in the runoff by a 952-919 margin. He was unopposed in the 2022 general election.

In May 2023 Plump was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of obstruction of justice in relation to federal investigation of the Jefferson County Community Service Fund's payments to the Piper Davis Youth Baseball League allotted through John Rogers and corresponding payments, alleged to have represented kickbacks, to a member of Rogers' staff, with whom Plump is alleged to have entered a romantic relationship.

He subsequently resigned from the Alabama State House of Representatives.

Plump and his wife have five children and three grandchildren.

Preceded by: Roderick Scott

Alabama State Representative, District 55 2022–2023

Succeeded by: current

References

• Stock, Erin (January 31, 2008) "Jefferson County Commission candidate Fred Plump says his key issues include affordable housing, better schools, improved public transportation." The Birmingham News
• Denham Hannah; Kyle Whitmire & Joseph D. Bryant (May 23, 2023) "Alabama Rep. Fred Plump to resign over federal charges in alleged kickback scheme." AL.com
• Bryant, Joseph D. (June 20, 2023) "Inside the Birmingham kickback scheme that took down a legislator." AL.com