Paul Thompson
Greater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame
Basketball, 1979-1999
Tulane/NBA/Europe
Inducted: 2024
Paul Thompson was really good at making field goals – and history.
He helped lead Peabody High School in Alexandria to its first Louisiana boys basketball state championship in 1979.
A few years later he helped lead Tulane University to its first two post-season tournaments. Along the way he became the Green Wave’s career scoring leader and No. 2 career rebounder.
He went on to play three seasons in the NBA to kick off a 17-season professional career that included 13 seasons overseas.
As a result, the Smyrna, Tenn., native is part of the 2024 class being inducted into the Greater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame.
“I had a great career and I had fun doing it,” said Thompson, who has worked for the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Department for more than 24 years and holds the rank of captain.
As a sophomore at Peabody, Thompson started getting “swamped” with recruiting letters from colleges. Tulane’s lack of success – including a combined 13 victories in the two seasons before Thompson’s arrival – didn’t catch Thompson’s eye, but a hand-written letter from head coach Roy Danforth did stand out among a bevy of form letters.
Thompson was looking for three things in a college: A place close enough to home that his friends and family could watch him play, “a very good academic school,” and he wanted to help build a program.
Check, check, and check.
Thompson’s father Robert attended every home game during his son’s Tulane career except one when he was sick and still tried to go until his wife (Ruth) put her foot down.
Friends didn’t all understand the younger Thompson’s school choice, but he saw it as a challenge and an opportunity.
“It was a losing program and we were a bunch of young guys trying to do our best to build the program,” Thompson said. “It was an uphill battle.”
But it was a battle that the Green Wave won as Thompson led the way while playing his first two seasons for head coach Ray Danforth and his last two for Ned Fowler.
Thompson was named Metro Conference Freshman of the Year for the 1979-80 season. He would go on to be a four-time All-Metro selection, a three-time honorable mention Sporting News All-American, three-time All-Louisiana and two-time first team NABC All-District selection. He was an All-Metro Conference Tournament selection in 1983.
For his career Thompson averaged 16.5 points and 8.1 rebounds. In his junior season the Green Wave qualified for the National Invitation Tournament, the first time Tulane had competed in a post-season tournament.
The Green Wave defeated LSU (83-72) in Baton Rouge and UNLV (56-51) in Las Vegas before losing on the road against Bradley (77-61) in the quarterfinals. In his senior season Thompson led Tulane back to the NIT, where it lost at Nebraska in the first round.
Thompson called the two post-season trips “probably the biggest memory” of his college career.
“The team came a long way,” he added.
So did Thompson.
Both parents had a hand in Thompson learning to play basketball as a youngster.
“I got a lot of my basketball knowledge from my mother,” Thompson said. “She played the game when she was growing up. When I was learning to play my father was in Vietnam, so she taught me how to play. When my father got back, he helped refine my skills.”
When her son was “nine or 10 years old” Ruth taught him how to shoot in the unpaved driveway of the family’s home.
“We had a goal over the garage,” Thompson said. “The driveway was just grass and dirt so you couldn’t dribble much. But you could shoot, so I learned how to shoot.
“Later we moved to a house with a paved driveway. I’d play for hours and hours, lots of times by myself. When it would get dark I’d just turn on the porch light and keep playing for hours.”
The youngster shooting by himself in the dark landed in the Tulane Hall of Fame, the Louisiana Basketball Hall of Fame and now the Greater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame.
Despite being impressive at a series of NBA pre-draft camps in 1983, Thompson had to wait until the third pick of the third round before the Cleveland Cavaliers grabbed him “not as high as I was told I would go.”
The disappointment made Thompson “determined” and he began his professional career with “a chip on my shoulder.”
That chip drove Thompson to an impressive showing in the L.A. Summer League and he made the Cavaliers roster while two players with guaranteed contracts got released – Bobby Wilkerson (Indiana) and Richard Washington (UCLA).
Thompson played all 82 games during his rookie season, but after the season the organization fired head coach Tom Nissalke and replaced him with George Karl. Though Thompson earned a starting position going into his second season, Karl said his game “lacked pizzazz” and after injuring his foot Thompson was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks.
Milwaukee signed him to a new contract in the off-season, but released him during the season. Five teams expressed interest in signing Thompson and he chose the Philadelphia 76ers and an opportunity to play with Julius Erving, Charles Barkley, Moses Malone, Maurice Cheeks and Bobby Jones.
“They didn’t run any plays for me,” Thompson said, but his defense and rebounding did complement the group that, except for Barkley, was the core of a championship team three seasons earlier.
After the 76ers released Thompson, he latched on with the La Crosse (Wisconsin) Catbirds of the Continental Basketball Association for one season then played one season in France, two in The Netherlands, one in Spain, two in Italy and seven in Israel.
Thompson gave his three passports a workout, spending most of his off days exploring places he hadn’t seen before.
“I wouldn’t have traded that experience for anything,” Thompson said.
After retiring, Thompson settled in Milwaukee and began his law-enforcement career, spending the last 18 years working “on S.W.A.T.”
He supplemented his Tulane degree in English with a Masters in Homeland Security and Emergency Management and another degree in Security Management.
He periodically reconnects with his Tulane teammates through a group chat when a Green Wave sporting event pops up on TV.
“I look back and can say my career didn’t go exactly as I planned,” Thompson said. “But it was a good ride.”
Story by Les East of the Greater New Orleans Sports Awards Committee.
