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Fred Shabel Vice Chairman of Comcast-Spectacor
Fred A. Shabel is Vice-Chairman of Comcast-Spectacor. He has been with
Comcast-Spectacor for 30 years. During that time, Shabel has guided the
company’s transition from being a local sports team in an arena, to being a
moving force in the Philadelphia community.
Shabel is an active participant in numerous community organizations. He is
a member of the Board of Directors of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of
Commerce; the Honorary Board of Directors of Police Athletic League, the
Board of Directors of the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation, as well as a
member of the Advisory Board for Arthur Ashe Youth Tennis and Education.
He has served as Chairman of the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing
Corporation, as well as on the Board of Directors of the Philadelphia
Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Arthritis Foundation, the Board of
Governors of the Institute for Cancer and Blood Diseases, the Philadelphia Sports Congress, the Philadadelphia
Police Foundation Board, the Philadelphia Geriatric Center, the Central Philadelphia Development Corporation
Board and Executive Committee, the Independence Visitor Center Corporation, the Board of Trustees of the
Franklin Institute, the Moore College of Art, and Friends of Rittenhouse Square. Other board memberships
include One to One Mentoring, Center City District, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art Corporate Partners.
Prior to joining Spectacor as President in 1980, he was Vice President for Operations at the University of
Pennsylvania from 1975 to 1980. He was Penn’s Athletic Director from 1967 to 1975. In that time, his teams
achieved 28 Ivy League titles and numerous national rankings. In 1972-73, Intercollegiate Athletics at Penn
accomplished a benchmark season, topping all previous victory records during the school’s 26 years in the
Ivy League.
During his tenure at the University of Pennsylvania Shabel served as Chairman of the Ivy League Athletic
Directors and the Eastern Collegiate Television Committee, and was Director of the Penn Relays.
Shabel began his collegiate athletics career as a member of the Duke University Men’s Basketball team where
he later became Assistant Basketball Coach under Vic Bubas from 1957 to 1963. He moved on to become Head
Basketball Coach at the University of Connecticut and was honored as New England Coach of the Year in 1964.
He served as First Lieutenant in the United States Air Force from 1954 to 1956.
He has been the recipient of the Duke Alumni Award, the Penn Varsity Club Award, the University of
Pennsylvania Hunter Lott Award, the Anti-Defamation League Torch of Liberty Award, Girl Scouts of
Southeastern Pennsylvania “Take the Lead” Champion Award and the Arthur Ashe Youth Tennis and
Education “Champions for Children.” He was recently inducted into the New England Division I Basketball
Hall of Fame in the Coaching Class.
Fred and his wife Irene reside in Center City Philadelphia. He has two grown children; a son, Alan, and a
daughter, Lisa; and two grandchildren, Gemma and Samuel.
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