Former Lumberton football standout, NFL veteran and local businessman L. Donnell Thompson speaks to a crowd of local service organizations Tuesday in Lumberton. Thompson, a 1981 first-round draft pick, played professional football for the Baltimore/Indianapolis Colts for 10 years before retiring to become a franchisee of fast food and hotel properties. He credited his success to influential teachers and community leaders in high school, college and professional sports. He said he learned early on that to succeed “you do what you are trained to do and do it better than anyone else.”
