Tim Thompson Returns to Memphis High School Football

A saga of twists & turns

By Jesse F. McClure | Published 4/17/2008 | Sports

A saga of twists & turns Tim Thompson’s ready to write Ridgeway High School chapter Tim Thompson tells his new Ridgeway team how you start off being raw meat, but you become well done after hard work, such as his former Melrose High School player, Cedric Wilson (right), who has played with the San Francisco 49ers and the Pittsburgh Steelers in the NFL. (Photo by Warren Roseborough) Let’s start with the numbers: 2, 77, 17, 7, 3, and 1,400. The common denominator is Tim Thompson, the new football coach at Ridgeway High School. One of the most successful high school football coaches in Memphis history, Thompson’s Melrose High School teams won two state championships and once finished as the runner-up. The record reads 77 games and only 17 losses in seven years as coach. A Melrose graduate, Thompson takes great pride in his success and readily acknowledges that his life has taken some severe twists and turns in recent years. In 2001, he was suspended for three years from coaching for accepting $1,400 from a coach at the University of Kentucky. No argument from Thompson. What he did was improper he said, noting only that the money was for his assistant coaches who helped him in a summer football camp. He left the Memphis City Schools system and for several years was a motivational speaker and ran football camps. “In 1996, the Melrose football team won their first state championship, which brought the pride, dignity and togetherness back in the community. So the drug dealers, gang members, doctors, and lawyers would sit in the stands and chant, ‘I love Orange Mound.’ The crime rate went down, school attendance went up, game attendance went from 2,000 to 10,000 and 30,000 attended their state championship games.” – Introduction, page 6 “I never had a relationship with my father that I always wanted. As a young male child growing up, there were many questions I wanted to ask my father that I could not ask my mother. But my father was not there. Yet to this day I still love my father.” – Chapter 3, “The Dark Side,” page 25 “I had to instill in my players that life was not about excuses, but about how to succeed against all odds.” – Chapter 8, “How to Win Against All Odds,” page 66 Thompson also spent time writing. His book, “The Tim Thompson, Story, Winning Against All Odds” details his life as a youngster in Memphis and his coaching career. Some involved in the scenario that led to Thompson’s demise have moved on to positions that have paid them a lot of money. Thompson said he is not bitter about that part, recognizes the mistakes he has made and has learned from them. He said he shares his story with his players so they can learn to rebound from difficult times. A success formula At Ridgeway, Thompson succeeds Joe Lee Dunn, who left to become the key defensive coach at New Mexico State University. For many years, Dunn was an assistant coach at universities such as Ole Miss, Mississippi State and the University of Memphis. He coached Ridgeway one season, with his team notching a five-win, six-loss record. Last year, Thompson coached Fayette Ware High School in rural West Tennessee, where his team finished with 7 wins and five losses. Thompson won 17 games in his three years at Fayette Ware and took his team to the high school play-offs twice. In the three years before Thompson became coach, Fayette Ware had won 1 game and lost 28 straight. Thompson is confident that he has more players in the National Football League than any other high school coach in America. He points to Cedric Wilson, most recently of the Pittsburgh Steelers; Kindal Moorehead of the Carolina Panthers; Dwayne Robertson of the New York Jets; and Andre Lott of the Chicago Bears. He is just as proud of the dozens who earned college scholarships. Thompson’s favorite former player is, Anthony Hall, who now is the new coach at Fayette Ware High School. He said Hall overcame many difficulties and got his degree at Stillman College. He later became one of Thompson’s trusted assistant coaches. A deeply religious man, the most important quality that Thompson said He tries to teach his players is respect for themselves and others. “The mind is often more important than the body in building a winning team (at the high school level),” he said. You have to take a big step to get into the NFL, and a bigger one to get to the Pro Bowl, said Coach Tim Thompson. Thompson tries to create a feeling of family among members of the team. His other “secret,” he said, is to coach teams to play exciting football. That means a wide-open style that players love to play and fans flock to see. At Ridgeway, Thompson plans to follow the same plan he used at Melrose and Fayette Ware. He points to the small towns in East Tennessee whose teams are often at the top of high school football rankings. In those small towns, he said, there is a strong sense of community with a town full of support. That’s the way it was in Orange Mound for Melrose, he said. He’s out to prove it can happen at Ridgeway.