Inducted: 2022
Hometown: Mission, Texas
High School: Mission High School
College: Baylor University
Best known for: Sports Administration
Like a virtuoso music conductor, Richard “Dicky” Thompson has spent a career focusing on the big picture – a symphony of sports. As an athletic administrator, he had to focus on every sport, just like a conductor must address each instrument to create a quality program.
He spent his entire 41-year career at Sharyland ISD, before retiring in 2021. He began as a varsity assistant football coach in 1980. He also served as head boys’ track and cross country coach for 20 years, and as head girls’ cross country coach for seven years, winning a combined 20 district championships. In 1987, he guided his boys’ cross-country team to a silver medal at the Class 3A State Meet. He became the Athletic Director in 2000.
Thompson was named Region VII Athletic Administrator of the Year by the Texas High School Athletic Directors Association (THSADA) in 2013. He would serve two terms on the THSADA State Board of Directors and was inducted into the THSADA Hall of Honor in 2015.
Sharyland ISD renamed its football stadium Richard Thompson Stadium in 2014.
One of the crown jewels of his career was in 2012, when the boys’ soccer team brought home a state championship. In 2014, he managed the expansion of the program as Sharyland Pioneer High opened.
Thompson graduated from Mission High School in 1974. He was a standout in football and track for the Eagles.
Thompson fostered a climate where student-athletes achieved success and did it in the right way – with honor, integrity and respect for their opponents.