Football | September 13, 2018

By Nolan Alexander / Director of Broadcast Media 

It wasn't supposed to end like this. Not with everything Kevin Thompson has felt in his life. He was due for a standout 2017 season after being named to the All-Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Preseason First Team. He had 9.5 tackles-for-loss and a pair of sacks the year prior.
 
He was ready for his first backfield buster as he lined up on 4^th and five at Bethune-Cookman's own 30 yard-line. His team was clinging to a 28-23 lead in Hammond, Louisiana. History was on the line as a MEAC school had never taken down a Southland Conference opponent. With Hurricane Irma slugging its powerful winds into Volusia County, an entire football team 650 miles from the disaster briefly had its mind encapsulated on the game's apex play.
 
Thompson did what he was coached to do – dropped his shoulder and ripped through the offensive tackle. He knew the importance of his fundamentals, because the final series was his first return to action since being pulled early in the contest for a missed assignment and technique.
 
He dipped and ripped, but a Lions offensive lineman shoved his bodyweight over Thompson's side, causing the 250-pounder to land awkwardly on his shoulder. If not for a fractured finger, he could have used his hand to brace for impact. However, a wrapped club on his right forearm kept him from balance, and the tumble to the Strawberry Stadium turf would be the latest hurdle for a Baltimore boy that had been through too many.
 
Thompson began playing with the pigskin at age eight to join his neighborhood's Pop Warner West Point Patriots team. It was a tradition that his friends and brothers had partaken in for years, but it was about to serve as a much-needed outlet for Thompson and his mother, Clarice. That year, the two suffered through the death of one of Kevin's three older brothers. The heartbreak was intolerable because of how off-guard both were to how it unraveled.
 
Unfortunately, it only grew.
 
For each of the next two years, the family lost a boy from the same cause – gun violence. Thompson lost three older brothers in three years, and vowed to not follow the same path.
 
"I promised my mom I would go through life the correct way, after seeing my mother go through the pain of burying not one, but three children," said Thompson. "It's been my daily motivation."
 


He kept hold of his promise through high school by sacrificing convenience for opportunity. Thompson awoke at 4:30 a.m. each morning to ride public transportation from Baltimore's south side to the east side, where he attended Baltimore City College, a prominent public magnet high school. His mother, a nurse, worked atypical hours, and the two made the most of the moments they could spend together.
 
Eventually, the commute and hours wore on a younger Thompson, and he transferred to Benjamin Franklin High School. There, his high school hoops coach William Russell reminded the promising star of the neighborhood's realities.
 
"Not all of you are going to make it," Thompson recalls of Russell's prophecy.
 
He was right.
 
Tragedy struck again the summer before Thompson's junior year when Marcus Harvell passed.
 
"He was one of the best big men in the city by far. If anyone was going to make it big and go to college, then it was him," commented Thompson. "He was my best friend. It changed me, and made me grind harder. It made me cherish the days that I had, and to make the most of my opportunities."
 
The grind paid off, and Thompson chose to play football with a friend at Ellsworth Community College. After a 6-4 season, his head coach was let go and Thompson considered other options. His next step led to Bethune-Cookman, where Thompson terrorized MEAC backfields from 2015 up to that fateful snap on Sept. 9, 2017.
 
Southeastern Louisiana quarterback Donovan Isom's pass was overthrown in part from his haste. Thompson's pass rush forced Isom to throw before the receiver had a true shot at catching the pass inside the 10.
 
BCU had hung on and its offense only needed to milk the clock to seal a milestone victory. While the defense and sidelines erupted in jubilation, the all-conference defensive end heard the dreaded "pop" and pain in his shoulder.
 
"I couldn't move my shoulder. I had so much pain moving through my arm, and I had a tough time even getting my shoulder pads off," said Thompson. "The first thing that went through my mind was 'No way. This is my senior year'."
 
After the following day's medical scans, he called the one person who knows better than he does on how to move forward.
 
"It's a minor setback for a major comeback," said his mother, Clarice.
 
A grueling rehab of a labrum torn in two different locations along with daily doses of motivation from mom got the redshirt-senior through a difficult stretch.
 
Back for his last fall in a Wildcats uniform, he took the field against Tennessee State on September 1 for his first game in nearly a year.
 
"I felt like a kid on Christmas," said Thompson. "I had been waiting so long to get back to playing the game that has meant everything to me. It's taught me responsibility, character, integrity, and been an outlet. It's helped me evolve as a person."
 
This fall isn't just the final Maroon and Gold chapter of a comeback story from another painful incident in life. It's about a mother and son who have been there for each other through thick and thin, and now both are soaking in fruits of commitment.
 
"I play to put a smile on my mother's face. Being able to take her away from home and see me play means everything."