’85 graduate of Greenville High three sport star for the Blackhawks
🎶And Daddy, won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County?
Down by the Green River where Paradise lay🎶
John Prine, 1971
Doug Thompson was a 6’4,” 225 pound, superlative athlete, who played DT at UK (got up to 275) but played QB/LB in high school. Thompson helped rebuild a program which was revived in 1980 after having lain dormant for 50-years. Thompson, as a thousand point scorer in basketball who was a prolific rebounding force, was the first Muhlenberg Countian to earn All-District in all four of the sports he was playing. Thompson was also a member of three district championship baseball teams. Guys like this have to be remembered. As long as we’re around, they will be…
HB Lyon, Scouting Director, “KPGFootball”
Greenville, KY: Greenville High School had a football program which lay dormant for some 50-years. In 1980, a local group of business men agreed to finance the re-establishment of football and hired Coach Ron Wigglesworth to lead the program.
These local business men had to finance this venture themselves. The school system, at that time, were not (yet) down for funding this endeavor.
They got enough kids together to field a junior high team made up of athletes from all over the county. There is a picture at the top of this article of that junior high team.
Many of those kids would go on to play for Wigglesworth at Greenville High the following year on the high school’s first varsity football team in five decades. One of those was the great Doug Thompson.
Thompson had a high football IQ and was like having a coach on the field
Ron Wigglesworth
Thompson was a 6’4,” 225-pound kid who pretty much starred in every varsity sport the high school fielded. Thompson would play a couple years at UK for Jerry Claiborne’s Wildcats.
The Wildcats would get Thompson up to 275-pounds and play him at tackle. Thompson was a QB/LB at Greenville.
“Doug was physically gifted and able to play any position on either side of the ball,” Coach Wigglesworth told one of our agents at KPGFootball. “Thompson had a high football IQ and was like having a coach on the field.”
Coach Wigglesworth went on to say, “Doug was a team leader. All the other players looked up to him.”
Thompson was a force for the Blackhawks on the gridiron and on the hardwood. Thompson scored over a thousand points in his prep career and was a rebounding machine playing forward/center on the basketball team.
Thompson was All-District in four separate sports in one calendar year. That is like winning the high school sports “grand slam.”
Thompson was all-district in four sports while in high school simultaneously
Friday Night Fletch
Thompson passed a few years ago. Thompson finally succumbed to cancer on Sunday, March 25, 2018. Much like he did in every athletic contest in which he ever participated, Thompson fought it; right down to the final horn.
We caught up with top-notch defensive coordinator Matt Day. Coach Day is the present DC at Muhlenberg County and is retired from teaching. Day has coached football in Kentucky for many, many years.
He spoke about his late friend and teammate. Tears welled up in his eyes as he did.
“I was Doug’s offensive center. I spent several years with his hands under my rear end. If those business men hadn’t decided we needed football, and decided they were willing to fund it, I may never have known Doug Thompson.”
Day went on to say, “I may never have spent the lifetime I have, coaching and teaching, and every rewarding experience those endeavors provided both my family and me. Think of all the lives impacted because of the generosity and foresight of a few community leaders.”
“Thank God for those guys,” Day concluded. “Thank God for this wonderful game and every moment I was privileged to spend with teammates like Doug Thompson.”
Amen, brother! Amen.
This is Friday Night Fletch, reporting for KPGFootball, reminding you to PLAY THROUGH THE WHISTLE!
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