View from the Sidelines

In an honor to one of the great coaches, teachers and mentors in school history, Thompson Falls High School officials have decided to rename the school's annual golf tournament, rebranding it as the Gary Thompson Invitational.

Complete with its new, well-deserved title, the inaugural Gary Thompson Invite will tee off at 10 a.m. Saturday at scenic River's Bend with a full complement of prep teams swinging for honors, and the highly esteemed Mr. Thompson in attendance.

Thompson Falls athletic director Jake Mickelson said he and current head golf coach Mike Bates had been putting around the idea of honoring Thompson this way for quite a while before they decided to make their play for it. The TFHS administration bought in on the idea.

"Often times you see a dedication to someone after they have passed and they are not able to realize how appreciative people are for their work," Mickelson said. "We wanted this to be something that would help Gary realize how much he is appreciated for what he has done and for what he continues to do."

"I can't imagine our program without him, I sure wouldn't want to find out what it would be like without him helping us out," Bates said. "Gary is just such a student of the game, he has proven to be a great coach and a teacher over the years and is really deserving of this honor."

Thompson, who coached the Blue Hawk boys to the only State B golf title in school history back in 2015, has not only capably and enthusiastically coached golf for much of the past decade, he has also taken turns at coaching other high school sports like basketball, softball and football at Thompson Falls, since arriving here in 1977. In fact, he started Thompson Falls' golf program the very first year he was on the TFHS campus.

Taking his leave from Montana for several years in the late 1980s, Thompson then moved south and went on to enjoy a very successful stint coaching tennis at a Texas high school for five seasons prior to returning to Thompson Falls and his home roots in Montana, where he learned the value of hard work while growing up on a ranch as a member of a large sports-friendly family.

While doing one of his other subsequent coaching stints at Thompson Falls, Thompson was an assistant for the 2010 State B-C Lady Hawk softball team. Thompson worked under another legendary Falls coach in Randy Pirker during his time with the softball program.

As an assistant coach for the Blue Hawk boys basketball team, Coach T played an important role in sparking the Hawks to victory in the 2006 Western B divisional championship game while involved coaching that sport.

Thompson is still embarrassed by an incident he was involved in during that game but really shouldn't be, as he may have been the spark that lit the Hawks' fire in that title game with rival Mission in Hamilton.

"I saw something I didn't like and stood up to object," he said, "but, of course assistant coaches are not allowed to leave the bench and I got T'd up by the ref. I really felt bad about it at the time but everybody on the team was really good to me.

"Chadd (head coach Laws) told me not to worry about it and a couple of the kids came up to me and said 'Don't worry coach, we got this.' And they did," he added, "we came back to win the game after that."

Maybe it was just a coincidence that the Hawks' rally to win in that game started with Thompson's inadvertent action but, on the other hand, maybe it was fate that he involuntarily did what it took to help lift the Hawks to that Western B championship.

In any event, it is clearly time to honor and recognize this coach who has given so much of his time, and of himself to Thompson Falls sports. When he heard the idea of renaming the annual golf tournament in his honor he was surprised, to say the least.

"I was flabbergasted when I first heard about it, I actually burst out laughing at the idea," he said. "I mean I didn't think they could be serious, the thought of people doing something like this really did surprise me."

Now that he is no longer surprised by the notion, the thought that he has made a difference in so many other peoples' lives along the way is finally sinking in. And just what is his secret to coaching sporting success?

"I have been blessed throughout my coaching career with good kids, and I really appreciate kids with a passion for the games they play," he said. "I think that the true key to success is to never give up no matter what game you are in.

"You just have to go with the flow, take it one day at a time and do your best to improve along the way," he added. "To be successful, you have to work together and that more than anything else, is what it takes to be successful, in my mind at least."

In dedication to Thompson's demonstrated dedication to the sports and athletes that he has coached along the way, the following is a special tribute to Coach T, in all his coaching glory.

Throwback....

Four years ago this spring, at the State B golf tournament in Huntley Project, the Hawks ended the first day of the two-day tourney nine shots off the team lead.

Undaunted and endlessly optimistic about how good his team was that year, coach Thompson had given the Hawk golfers a homework assignment for every night before they headed to the tournament. The Hawks had won fourth place in the divisional tournament the week before but Thompson clearly thought they were capable of much more.

"I never stopped believing in these guys," he said at the time. "I told them to tell themselves 10 times a day: We can win State.'

"And then I checked to make sure they did their homework by asking them," he added. "I knew these kids had it in them and I wanted them to believe that, too."

Proving Coach T totally right the next day, the Hawk boys went out and destroyed the course the next day, making up 17 strokes on Manhattan and winning the championship by eight strokes.

It almost seemed like Thompson had stood up again, at precisely the right time and place to make another championship happen. And it was during coach Thompson's final season at the helm, which he had announced early in the spring that year.

Thank you coach Gary Thompson, we would not be here without you.