Thompson gets 'Lifetime Service to Wrestling' award

By Ron Riley

Sports Editor

Parsons High School wrestling coach Jody Thompson had been here before. Literally. Thompson was one of three individuals given a "Lifetime Service to Wrestling" award last Saturday in Chanute by the Kansas chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. Thompson had already been honored by the National Junior College Wrestling Hall of Fame, the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Hall of Fame as part of the 1969 NAIA champion Adams State College team, and the Kansas Wrestling Association Hall of Fame. But Thompson said this latest ceremony was his favorite.

"My son Joel introduced me," Thompson said. "And it turns out he's an even better public speaker than I am. He did a great job."

Thompson also knew the other two people given lifetime service awards, Ken Jones and George Jackson, and he knew Earl Jones, who was given the "Medal of Courage" at the event. Earl Jones was a two-time national champion at Labette Community College under Thompson's replacement there, Joe Renfro, in 2004-05. Ken Jones took over for Thompson as wrestling coach at Columbus High School when Thompson left there in 1973 to come to LCC. And Jackson, who was honored posthumously, was a wrestling official at LCC for more than 10 years.

"It was great to get to see those guys and laugh with them and hug them," Thompson said.

Being among those old friends, Thompson said, reminded him of something he calls the "Get rid of Thompson" effect.

"Everywhere I've been, the guy who followed me has just done a phenomenal job," he said. "I left Topeka-Seaman and then they took second in the state. I turned Columbus over to Ken, and he started winning state. I was at LCC for 28 years, I brought in Joe Renfro as an assistant with the understanding he'd take my job when I retired, and as soon as I got out, the next four years he finished sixth, first, third, and second in the nation."

Thompson laughed as he recalled what he told the crowd.

"They'll be telling me to get out of here (Parsons) any day now," he said. "Whoever replaces me will kick your rear. I'm like the bridesmaid."

Thompson said the ceremony was a good way to begin to get a push on the upcoming Parsons wrestling season.

"I want to get things going," Thompson said. "My job now is to put the wrestling train back on the tracks here."

Thompson said he wants his wrestlers to understand the importance of tradition represented by individuals like those honored in Chanute.

"Football players at OU, basketball players at KU, they understand the tradition in those places," he said, "and it reminds them every single day what it takes to succeed."

Thompson said he's tried to stress tradition in his time at Parsons High School.

"I spent one whole summer piecing together the wrestling records," he said. "And I put a list of the great wrestlers, ones who'd won a state title, on a t-shirt that said 'Preparing for the future, remembering the past.'"

Thompson said he's glad he coaches an individual sport like wrestling. It makes rebuilding a program a little easier, he said.

"If you have one outstanding individual, he can go all the way to the top, and the others can see that and see what it takes," he said. "With your team sports, an outstanding individual might get lost among the rest of the team."

Thompson said that his enthusiasm for the little details of being a coach dropped after his retirement from LCC. Now that he's back, he said, trying to build something at Parsons, he's ready for the challenge.

"My enthusiasm for all the travel and the practices waned," he said. "But I can crank it up to get this thing going."


10/29/2007; 1:30:49 PM