Duncan Thompson

This week’s Cass County Pioneer Profile is another local athletic hero. Duncan W. Thompson was born February 19, 1929, in Atlanta, Texas. As co-captain of the Atlanta Rabbits, Thompson helped lead the 1945-46 team to a winning season. After graduating, Thompson went to play for the University of Arkansas Razorbacks but decided not to stay. Instead, he came home to Atlanta and briefly went to work for the road department. This too, did not last long. In 1950, Thompson was off to Tyler Junior College to play for the Apaches.

From there, he transferred to East Texas State Teachers College (now Texas A&M-Commerce) to play for the Lions. As an end, he earned All-Lone Star Conference honors and contributed to the Lions’ impressive 30–2–1 record, including appearances in two Tangerine Bowl games. Despite receiving a contract offer to play for the Chicago Bears, in 1953 Thompson chose to pursue a coaching career instead. He began as head football coach at Linden High School in 1953, later coaching at Spring Hill High School in Longview, Texas, before returning to Linden in 1955 as head coach and athletic director.

Linden and Kildare schools would later consolidate in 1958 but Thompson left in 1957 to become head football coach and athletic director at Texarkana Junior College (now Texarkana College), leading the team to an NJCAA National Football Championship that year. In 1959, Thompson left coaching to enter the oil business in his hometown of Atlanta and also served as a city councilman. Thompson passed away on April 16, 1997. He left a legacy that embodied the value of hard work and education, coupled with hometown pride. In 2024, he was inducted into the Atlanta High School Hall of Fame.

His legacy continues today as his great-grandson Brayden Thompson, a high school freshman, just completed a very successful season as quarterback for the Atlanta Rabbits.