This will make you feel OLD

[The Brain]

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/sports/columnists/tom_sorensen/9140667.htm

David Thompson turns 50

Age hasn't robbed ACC great Thompson's hops

[size=-1]TOM SORENSEN[/size]

LOOK WHO'S

50 Age hasn't robbed ACC great Thompson's hops David Thompson turns 50 today. His friends and family thought it would be nice to surprise him with a birthday column. He has no idea it's in the newspaper.

I've never written a surprise birthday column before and probably never will again. But it is an honor to be asked.

Thompson is humble, he's sincere and man, can he play basketball. He is the greatest player in ACC history and he was a marvelous professional until he became involved with alcohol and drugs.

The fight with his demons was arduous and long and, for years, it seemed, could go either way. But Thompson won. He has been straight since 1988.

I've known David about 15 years. I've never heard him talk about who he is or what he's done until he's asked, and even then he has to be pushed.

Fine, but can he still play above the rim? That's important. Because if Thompson, at 6-foot-4 one of the great leapers the sport has seen, can still dunk, then he still is the Skywalker. If he's still the Skywalker, he's still a kid.

And if he's still a kid, then the rest of us who are past 50, at 50 or pushing 50 get to be kids, too.

Can he dunk?

"Absolutely," says Chris Edwards, a mortgage banker who has known Thompson 16 years. "The last time I saw him dunk was two months ago at the (Harris) Y. He can dunk backward and windmill and do some 180s."

But when Edwards thinks of Thompson, he thinks of a man who's grounded.

"He has common sense and wisdom," says Edwards.

Anything you want to say to him on his birthday?

"David, I can't wait until you're 60 and you can still dunk on me," Edwards says.

Still dunk?

"He could still dunk on one leg," says Carl Scheer, who was general manager of the Denver Nuggets when they signed Thompson out of N.C. State in 1975.

Says Scheer, who is CEO of the ECHL's Charlotte Checkers: "David, you're an inspiration for all of us privileged to know you. Happy birthday, and hope you have another 50 years."

I can't believe he's already finished the first 50.

"It kind of caught me off guard," says Charlotte Smith-Taylor, Thompson's niece and a forward for the Charlotte Sting. "At an old age" -- always quick, she catches herself -- "not an old age, but at 50, he's so much fun to watch."

Has he ever dunked on you?

"No," says Smith-Taylor.

She laughs.

"He's a gentleman," she says.

She adds: "I love and respect him. He's been through so much and he still has so much to give."

The last year has been good for Thompson. He graduated from N.C. State with a degree in sociology. He started 2XSALT, a youth ministry, with Bart Kofoed, who played five seasons in the NBA, and Bobby Jones, a former teammate in Denver and opponent at North Carolina. They've been running a camp this summer at Charlotte Christian.

"Bart, me and David went against some college kids and beat them 10-0," says Jones. "David was dunking, just going up after the ball. They couldn't do anything with him."

You're 52. Are you still dunking?

"I can," says Jones, "but not like David. I never could. Who can?

"David, happy birthday. Just don't dunk on me."

David's younger daughter, Brooke Thompson, also turns 23 today.

Older daughter Erika, an N.C. State graduate, studies film at Full Sail Real World Education in Orlando, Fla. Brooke graduated from UNC Asheville and will study sports psychology at Florida State.

She does not call her father humble.

"He likes to be the center of attention," Brooke says. "He's very funny. He's very competitive. I'm competitive, and he never wants to let me win."

In what do you compete?

"Everything," she says. "Jeopardy, basketball, telling jokes."

Jeopardy is big in the Thompson household. Each tries to yell the answer first.

"I think I win but he sets it up so that he wins," Brooke says.

Anything you want to say to your dad on your birthdays?

"I love him," says Brooke. "But can I say that?"

I don't think he'll mind.

Cathy Thompson met David 29 years ago, and they've been married 25 years.

Describe your husband to somebody who's never met him.

"Quiet," she says. "Passionate. Caring. Loving. And I love him very much."

She doesn't ask if she can say it. She just says it.

When was the last time you saw him dunk?

"He doesn't dunk in front of me," Cathy says with feeling. "I'm against it. He'll come home after dunking and his back will hurt or his knee will hurt and he'll put ice on it. But the kids all want him to dunk."

Your kids?

"All kids," Cathy says.

 

[slydevl]

Bart Kofoed is a nice guy. He was one of my wife's clients at her old job. I have met him a couple of times. Played for the Celtics.

Funny, his name comes up often in serious discussions of the worst players ever to grace the NBA.

 

[Malaysak1982]

Did DT skip a grade or something? Alright, DT is 50 today and I was 52 on July 2. I graduated high school in 1970 and DT finished in 1971. I finished college in 1974 and he in 1975. I went through school starting kindergarten at 5 and went right on through without failing a grade. If DT is 2 years younger, but only one year behind in school, he would have had to start kindergarten at 4 and 1st grade at five or skipped a grade. I know he went three years to Crest high and did not finish high school early. I met him in the WNCHSAA basketball playoffs in 1969 when I was a junior and he was a soph. Even then, he was considered one of the top 10 basketball players in the world and he could sky, no doubt. Anyway, Happy Birthday David!