As high school sports have gotten more and more competitive,
high school athletes have become more and more specialized in
sports, picking one and pursuing it full-time.
Then there’s San Benito High’s Chuck Thompson.
Hollister – As high school sports have gotten more and more competitive, high school athletes have become more and more specialized in sports, picking one and pursuing it full-time.
Then there’s San Benito High’s Chuck Thompson.
In many ways, Thompson is a throwback – a “dying breed,” as San Benito football coach Chris Cameron calls him. Thompson, an all-around talent who changed sports as often as the seasons, just finished up his Hollister career as a three-sport athlete in football, wrestling and track. He’s determined to succeed in athletics, but knows his education is his ticket to long-term success. Most old-school of all, he believes in good old-fashioned hard work.
“The way I see it right now,” Thompson says. “It’s all work and no play for the (near) future.”
The newly-graduated ‘Baler didn’t just play three sports this past year, he excelled at them.
Thompson earned second-team All-TCAL honors in football as a wingback, made it to the Central Coast Section (CCS) wrestling finals and qualified for the CCS track and field finals in the 100 meters and as a part of the 4×100 meter relay team. His success has earned the Pennsylvania native a spot on Foothill College’s football and track and field teams next year.
But that’s just half the story.
Goin’ back to Cali
Thompson’s tale began thousands of miles away in Pittsburgh, where he grew up. He turned into a gifted high school athlete who wanted to take his talents to the collegiate level. But his old high school didn’t have the resources to help him make that happen.
“He lived in an area of town that was kind of rough,” says Haybaler wrestling coach Matt Olejnik. “He wasn’t getting a lot of support with the coaching staff.”
It was Olejnik who would be Thompson’s saving grace. A friend of Olejnik’s whom the coach had grown up with was dating Thompson’s sister and told Olejnik about her brother’s situation. Olejnik didn’t know Thompson, but wanted to help him all the same.
“I said, ‘Hey, man, send him out to me,'” Olejnik says. “(My friend Jim) said, ‘Are you kidding?'”
Olejnik assured him he wasn’t. Three days later, Thompson was on Olejnik’s doorstep.
“I never met him (before he moved out here). I never even met his sister,” Olejnik says. “But it’s one of those things where I grew up with my friend Jim and if he tells me he’s a good egg, I’ve got no problem with it.”
As a coach, Olejnik feels very strongly about giving kids an opportunity.
“If that means they’ve got to stay with you, (then that’s what you do),” he says.
Becoming a ‘Baler
When Thompson arrived in Hollister in 2004, it already was late spring and he had missed most of the track and field season. But San Benito track coach Iran White welcomed the junior to the squad all the same.
Thompson ran in a couple dual meets, made the TCAL Finals and even finished fourth in the 100. His accomplishment was pretty impressive, considering he’d never run track before.
“I just remember last year he came out and wasn’t in very good shape. I asked him to run the 200 and he was like ‘That’s pretty far,'” laughs White. “He ran it and wasn’t too good at it.”
But this year, Thompson cut his times down in the 200 to 22 seconds, and took a half second off his 100 mark.
“I’ve got to say track (was the accomplishment I was most proud of),” Thompson says. “I didn’t know how good I was going to do … My biggest accomplishment is running that 200. When I tried to run it this year, it was easy.”
Thompson’s natural speed and strength – the gifts that made him a quick study in sprinting events – translated to the football field in the fall.
Cameron calls his former wingback the “Big Play Guy.” Thompson earned the name by coming up big in several games this past year, including the CCS championship against Oak Grove, where he had a 99-yard touchdown run in the big game.
“He was pretty explosive. Once he got out in the open he was pretty tough to catch,” Cameron says. “He was elusive and had a ton of big plays.”
In Thompson’s opinion, he was just doing his job.
“I only got the ball a little bit this year, but every time I got the ball, (I tried to do something),” Thompson says. “While on offense, it’s my job to put the ball in the end zone. I’ve got to score.”
Just to throw in a challenge, Thompson also joined wrestling his senior year. He’d only wrestled for two years and had to drop the weight he’d put on for football, but he still had a solid .500 record at 160 lbs.
But why not spend that time in the winter working on football? Or track?
“I just like to be more of an athlete who could do more than one thing,” Thompson says. “Plus, it gives you a better chance (to play a sport in college) if you can be semi-decent in more than one sport. So many people are trying to do the same thing.”
Thompson also feels being a three-sport athlete has made him a better all-around athlete.
“For wrestling, mentally you’ve got to slow down and think. That’s the mental aspect. Then track gives you the speed. In football, you put it all together. You don’t just go out there and be aggressive. It all comes in handy,” Thompson says.
In addition to natural talent, Cameron, Olejnik and White all believe Thompson’s work ethic has made him a success.
“I saw Chuck work really hard,” Cameron said. “He was always working harder to improve his game. He’s not a cruise-in-practice kind of guy.”
Full-circle
Since Thompson arrived in Hollister over a year ago, Olejnik says he has handled being away from home very well.
“I think he was pretty mature about the whole deal,” Olejnik says. “He understood what was the purpose of being out here.”
Thompson said he definitely likes the warmer California weather, but admits there are some things he misses about home.
“I’ve been able to adjust,” Thompson says. “It’s still kind of hard not being by my mom. I miss her food.”
He hasn’t traveled home, but Thompson’s parents and family have come out to California twice: Once for a football playoff game and again for his graduation.
Recently, Thompson, a 3.0 GPA student, has begun to move on to the next phase of his life. He moved out of Olejnik’s house and into an apartment in Mountain View close to Foothill. The senior wants to double major in accounting and finance and eventually move on to a four-year college as a student-athlete. “You’ve got to be educated,” Thompson says.
And, he’s got one other motivation.
“I told my mom I’ve going to get her that mansion,” he laughs.
Olejnik is eager to see where Thompson’s talents will take him. He notes that Foothill football coach Marshall Sperbeck has already said that Thompson should be a “diamond in the rough” at cornerback.
“I think track and football are natural things (for Chuck),” Olejnik says. “He’s a rare kid in that he’s much better than average in a lot of things he does. When he finally decides to focus on one thing, I think he’ll achieve a much higher level.…I see him making a name for himself in either football or track.”
