Contributed photo | Tommy Thompson will retire on Tuesday after after serving as a professor, coach and chair of the Health, Physical Education and Recreation The University of North Carolina at Pembroke since 1980. Thompson’s wife, Marion, will retire from her job in the foreign language department on the same day. Thompson plans to golf and spend more time with his granddaughters during his retirement.

Contributed photo | During the 1970s, Tommy Thompson taught nearly every subject in the small physical education department of The University of North Carolina at Pembroke. He coached the women’s tennis team and was assistant baseball coach under the late Harold Ellen, who had succeeded Ray Pennington.

PEMBROKE — Tommy Thompson is a Lumberton educator born and bred.

As he says: “When I was very young, my dream was to be a teacher and coach, and I’m fortunate to have done it for an entire career – 45 years.”

Thompson talked about his career in the days before his June 30 retirement from The University of North Carolina at Pembroke, where he has worked since 1980. At UNCP, he taught, coached and served as chairman of the Health, Physical Education and Recreation Department for 28 years.

Talking about himself is rare event Thompson.

“I’m humbled to know that someone would want to read about my career. I reckon I’ve been doing this a long time,” he said.

Others are willing to talk about Thompson, including long-time colleague and former UNCP basketball coach and athletics directors, Dan Kenney.

“Tommy Thompson is embedded into the heart and soul of Pembroke,” Kenney said. “He leaves the legacy of building strong academic programs and a championship college coach. He will be missed but not forgotten.”

Thompson was a co-captain of the football and baseball teams and all-conference in both his senior year at Lumberton High School. One of the state’s top football players, he played in the annual East-West game. Off the field, he was president of the student government and voted “best all-around” by his classmates.

“We had some pretty good teams,” he said. “My senior year we won the conference in football and lost in the playoffs to Rockingham in the last seconds. We had a good baseball team, too.”

Thompson’s father died just months after his graduation, and his plans to attend college in Pembroke changed. He joined the Air Force and served four years. He played and coached on service teams, but more importantly, the GI Bill paid his way to Pembroke State College,which is now UNC Pembroke. He earned a bachelor of science in Physical Education and began teaching and coaching at Lumberton Senior High School.

Thompson worked under Lumberton including the late Alton Brooks and Finley Read — the same coaches he had played for.

“Coach Read and coach Brooks were father figures to me,” Thompson said. “I still call them coach.”

“Tommy was always serious and very much a team player,” Read said. “He was well respected at the high school and just a good fellow.

“As a coach, he was just as dedicated or maybe more so. He was so knowledgeable and knew how to handle the kids.”

Thompson was an assistant football coach for Paul Willoughby. Two outstanding players in Thompson’s era were Donnell Thompson, who had a 14-year NFL career, and Ruffin McNeill, who is head football coach at East Carolina University.

While at Lumberton High School, Thompson pursued a master’s degree at Western Carolina. He caught the attention of Ray Pennington, a former UNCP baseball coach who was then chair of the Physical Education Department. Pennington brought Thompson to the university to teach and coach.

In 1970, Pembroke was turning a corner when it joined the UNC system as a full-fledged regional university. In the early years, Thompson taught nearly every subject in the small department. He coached the women’s tennis team and was assistant baseball coach under the late Harold Ellen, who had succeeded Pennington.

Thompson proved his versatility by becoming the coach of the women’s volleyball team.

“I enjoyed coaching the women,” he said. “They worked hard and never complained.” He was named NAIA District 26 Volleyball Coach of the Year in 1983.

Thompson’s life was changing too. He and Marion, now his wife of 45 years, had married. Katherine was born in 1979. His education continued in a summer doctoral program at Middle Tennessee State. His role at the university was about to change too.

“I was in my office one day and Dr. (Charles) Jenkins came by,” Thompson said, referring to the former vice chancellor of Academic Affairs. “He asked me if I would serve as department chair. I wasn’t sure, so he said to sleep on it.

“Marion encouraged me to give the job a try,” he said. “Coaches wives are truly special people. She was invaluable as my friend, cheerleader, proof-reader and as a mother to our daughter.”

Chairing UNCP’s Health, Physical Education and Recreation Department Department is a challenging job, because like Thompson, nearly all of the instructors also serve as coaches. It requires a balanced approach by coaches, instructors and administrators.

“At most colleges, this department and the athletic department are at odds with each other,” he said. “We have to work hand-in-hand. In 28 years, we’ve been lucky to hire good people.”

Another part of the challenge was to start new programs and to make them prosper at a growing university. That required meticulous planning and a lengthy approval process. The programs would have to stand up to rigorous accreditation standards.

“One of the things I am most proud of is the master’s of Physical Education program. I pushed for it from the time I became chair,” he said. “It’s been successful and our numbers are still strong.”

The department now offers majors in recreation, exercise and sports science, athletic training and health promotion. All have been successful, and Thompson is especially pleased with the athletic training program.

“This was another important project that brought prestige to our department and the university,” he said. “We’re the only school in the southern part of North Carolina with this program. Athletic trainers are important to high schools and colleges. Susan Edkins and Beverly Justice have done a great job with it.”

A key feature of the program is the athletic training room, which the university routinely touts as the best in the conference. The training room was a major addition to the aging English Jones Health and Physical Education Building. Because of dramatic enrollment and program growth in the first decade of the new millennium, the building was bursting at the seams.

“Dan Kenney and I earned our money over that project. We remained in place during the construction,” Thompson said. “We moved the Wellness Center three times.”

The 1970s-era building was literally wrapped in new additions that housed offices, classrooms, the Campbell Wellness Center, an expansive new entrance with concessions, a trophy case and the Braves Club room.

Marion, who has served UNCP for many years as an instructor in the Foreign Languages program, will retire with Tommy. As for retirement, Tommy has a long-standing golf date with high school mate Knocky Thorndyke.

Thompson also has two young granddaughters to spoil.