Former Furman “footballer” won five (5) state titles as a head coach
Fleming Debenion Thornton, Jr. was a 6’1,” 200-pound two-way lineman when he brought his talents from Tampa, Florida to Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina. Thornton worked himself into the starting lineup for the 1948 Furman, Purple Hurricane, which played in the Southern Conference, before accepting a head coaching job and teaching position at Central High School in Pageland, S.C. A trip to Hopkinsville, Kentucky in 1962 would change both his personal trajectory and the trajectory of Western Kentucky football forever.
HB Lyon, Scouting Director, “KPGFootball”
Hopkinsville, KY: I had a special relationship with Coach Thornton. Fleming Debenion Thornton, Jr. and I would play nine (9) holes together, when I was between 10 and 15, every summer weekday morning at the Hopkinsville Golf & Country Club.
Thornton, Jr.
We stopped playing when I was 16-18. It was nothing personal, I was just a pretty accomplished player at that age and his getting demolished every morning was not too much fun for him.
Coach Thornton was a member of the local country club courtesy of his being the head football coach at the Hopkinsville High School. I was a member there courtesy of my parents’ generosity and owing to my being a minor.
I was a pretty good golfer. I would round into a low, single-digit handicapper. Thornton, a left hander, was not very good at golf but he enjoyed the society and the exercise. Needless to say, I was a game for him even at 10-years old.
Thornton walked and pulled a pull-caddy every morning. I walked and carried.
I had what was then called a “Sunday bag.” It was designed for walking and carrying.
That was the kind of man Fleming Thornton was. Thornton was the kind of man who could be a friend, and remain a lifelong friend, to a kid with whom he first started playing golf when the kid was only 10-years old.
became the Paladins on
September 15, 1961
I have known parents who didn’t much like their own 10-year olds. There weren’t too many men who could (and were willing to) relate to kids like Fleming Thornton was both able and willing to do.
Coach Thornton told me, on one of our golfing excursions, that the one thing about college football for which the high school game failed to prepare him was the shape he needed to be in before reporting to camp. I remember him distinctly telling me, “I thought, coming out of high school, I was in shape. When I got to Furman, I learned I wasn’t.”
Thornton had been a first-team tackle for the Furman Purple Hurricane in 1948, his senior year. Furman was a Southern Conference team, playing the likes of Clemson, North Carolina, VMI (Virginia Military Institute), Washington and Lee, Maryland, Duke, and Wake Forest among others.
In 1949, Thornton took the head coaching job at Central High in Pageland, South Carolina. Thornton won state titles in 1949, ’51, and ’52. That winning titles in back to back seasons would be replicated in Kentucky when Thornton won titles in 1965 and 1966, winning 28-consecutive games in the offing.
Thornton had won state titles in South Caroline at Central High in 1949, ’51, & ’52 and at Hopkinsville High in 1965 & ’66
Friday Night Fletch
Thornton was an innovator. Thornton was among the only coaches who weight trained. Thornton’s teams possessed the type of physical strength which protected players from injury while devastating opponents.
In addition to physical prowess, Thornton brought discipline, integrity, and hard work to his programs whether in South Carolina or Kentucky. Thornton inspired athletes. Thornton set the standard for coaching, courtesy, and manners.
The Thornton way would prove itself to be much more than a way to win championships and football games. It was a way of life. Simply put, Thornton developed better men.
At the end of the day, isn’t developing better men job one under a high school head coach’s job description? Coach Thornton ran his programs like he believed it was. We agreed with him then and still do.
Thornton was inducted into the Dawhares, KHSAA Hall of Fame in 1993. He won 108-games in 15-seasons in Kentucky with two KHSAA titles. Though the Dawahares committee didn’t consider the out of commonwealth work, Thornton won three (3) titles in South Carolina for five (5) titles total.
This is Friday Night Fletch, reporting for KPGFootball, reminding you to PLAY THROUGH THE WHISTLE!
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