BY MARK MAY
As a high school athlete at Mission High in the early 1970s, Richard Thompson learned some valuable lessons from his coaches.
They were not techniques on how to get open (he played wide receiver in football) or how to shave tenths of a second off his time (he ran track as well), it went deeper than that.
“I learned about hard work, dedication, living a good character life,” he said. “Those are the things you carry on with in life.”
As the athletic director for 21 years at Sharyland ISD, he reminded coaches that life lessons were ultimately more crucial than Xs and Os.
“They’re not going to remember every play, but they’re going to remember lessons to go forward in life,” he said.
Thompson is now set to be inducted into the Rio Grande Valley Sports Hall of Fame.
“It’s certainly a great honor,” he said. “Usually, it goes to longtime coaches or great, great athletes. There are several (athletic directors) in there, but they were also great coaches. I never anticipated, I never dreamed about it. I’m so appreciative.”
The 34th annual Induction Ceremony will be at 4 p.m. today at the Brownsville Events Center.
He is one of eight inductees. This year’s group also includes Larry Caldwell of Mission (baseball/football), Tony Guerrero (football officiating), David Longhofer of Harlingen (football), Albert Ochoa of Edinburg (golf), Joe Solis of Edcouch-Elsa (football), Gabriel Valdez of Weslaco (basketball) and Laura Vasquez of Edinburg (track & field).
This year’s class will bring the Hall of Fame’s total membership to 280.
The influence of his coaches led Thompson to pursue the same profession.
“I got into coaching because of three men,” he said, listing Jerry Tomsu (head coach of the Eagles during the 1970s), Gordon Forester (offensive coordinator under Tomsu) and Roy Garcia (offensive line coach at the time and longtime Mission boys basketball coach and athletic director). “I wanted to make a difference in other people’s lives, and that’s why I got into coaching.”
Thompson graduated from Baylor and then spent his entire 41-year career at Sharyland ISD before retiring in 2021. He served as a varsity assistant football coach from 1980 through 1995. He also served as head boys track and cross country coach for 20 years, and as head girls cross country coach for seven years, winning a combined 20 district championships.
“I was doing three sports for 16 years,” he said.
In 1987, he guided his boys cross country team to a silver medal at the UIL Class 3A state meet. He became the district’s assistant athletic director under Marcy De La Fuente in 1998 before the promotion to athletic director two years later.
“When I first started out as the AD, my first goal was to hire the best head coaches I could possibly hire,” he said. “To me, that is the core of an athletic program. (Coaches) that treat kids (right) and love kids, making a positive difference in their life.”
Also essential, he noted, is support from the school board, the superintendent, central administration staff and principals.
“They provide the support along with all of the necessary facilities and equipment needs that it takes for our coaches to develop our athletes,” he said. “I was very fortunate.”
In 2013, Thompson was named Region VII Athletic Administrator of the Year by the Texas High School Athletic Directors Association. He served two terms on the THSADA State Board of Directors and was inducted into the THSADA Hall of Honor in 2015.
Sharyland ISD dedicated its football stadium in his honor, renaming it Richard Thompson Stadium in 2014.
One of the crown jewels of his career was in 2012, when the Rattlers’ boys soccer team brought home a state championship. In 2014, he oversaw the expansion of the program as Sharyland Pioneer joined the Sharyland ISD family.
“The coaching profession, to me, is the greatest job out there,” he said. “We have the opportunity to change kids’ lives. I don’t think there is any greater calling than that.”
For ticket information for today’s event, visit the RGV Sports Hall of Fame website at www.rgvshof.net.
Founded in 1985, the RGV Sports Hall of Fame is a not-for-profit organization whose mission it is to recognize men and women who have brought honor and recognition to the Rio Grande Valley through their participation in sports as an athlete, coach, official, trainer, journalist or other sports-related position.
The RGV Sports Hall of Fame collects, preserves and exhibits memorabilia and statistical data of Rio Grande Valley sports for historical preservation, database collection and enjoyment. Some memorabilia items are housed at Doubleday’s Bar and Grill in Port Isabel.
