But the game with Reading on this day 54 years ago is not one he will look back on with great fondness.
The Bantams were on top all afternoon at Valley Parade, but a late blunder from the 20-year-old cost his side victory.
Fretwell tried to pass the ball back to his goalkeeper John Ritchie inside the 18-yard box, but he simply did not spot the lurking Barry Wagstaff, who gleefully accepted the gift.
That meant the game finished 1-1, Wagstaff, in the Reading side alongside his brother Tony, cancelling out John Hall’s earlier strike for City.
John Napier, a new signing from Brighton, probably should have scored on debut with a couple of close-range headers.
David Bairstow, Yorkshire wicket-keeper and City star, also went close, while Graham Oates nearly volleyed home a late winner.
It was a miserable first season back in Division Four for the Bantams in general, as they only managed to finish 16th off the back of relegation.
But for Fretwell, the villain of the piece that day, happier times were ahead.
A ball-playing defender, who team-mate Ian Cooper once likened to Bobby Moore, Fretwell was part of the side that reached the 1976 FA Cup quarter-final and in the 1976-77 promotion squad.
What eventually tempted Fretwell away was a move to America, as he left City to join California Sunshine in 1978, before a spell with Chicago Sting.