ATHLETICS | THAT’S JACK, THAT’S GEORGIA TECH
Thompson as he looked during his early years at Tech on the Yellow Jackets’ football staff.
At Southern Illinois University, Doug Weaver was the athletics director. He had been Rodgers’ offensive coordinator at UCLA. Soon, he became Tech’s first new athletics director since Dodd had taken the job in 1950. “Pepper looks at Weav and says, ‘Weav, I’m the king. You wanna be athletic director at Georgia Tech?’” Thompson remembers. “And Weav says, ‘Yeah.’ And Pepper says, ‘You make Thompson your assistant athletic director in charge of football operations.’ “And Weaver stands up and says, ‘Welcome, Mr. Assistant.’” Thompson’s new role involved fundraising, and he was adept at it. Weaver oversaw planning of the Arthur B. Edge Jr., Intercollegiate Athletics Center, where Georgia Tech’s Athletic Association is housed, although he left before it was completed to become athletics director at his alma mater, Michigan State. Dr. Homer Rice was hired as athletics director in 1980 and quickly noted Thompson’s aptitude for raising money. In 1982, he tabbed Thompson associate athletics director – development, and that title grew in 1988 when he became senior associate athletics director – development. “First of all, he was very connected to alumni and friends of Georgia Tech,” Rice said. “We went to person after person for funding of our program. At that time, we didn’t have a funding program. We were last in the Atlantic Coast Conference in
fundraising, and in two or three years we were at the top and Jack led the charge in all of that.” Thompson could probably talk a bull out of charging or a fly off a wall. He was integral in helping solicit a $5 million donation from John and Mary Brock for the construction of Tech’s indoor football practice facility. So many times, Mary has been with Jack in a suite at Georgia Tech football games, “Feeling like he knew more about me than I knew about myself,” she said. “When he would introduce me, I would think, ‘Wow; I’m kind of amazing.’ “The real gift that Jack has is that he makes everybody feel amazing. There is no better people person ... he just makes you smile. It is very hard to say no to him.” Thompson’s not going far. He’s connected countless Tech graduates with job opportunities, and that’ll be one of his primary assignments moving forward. His new office is in the same building, the Edge Center, but now it’s right next to that of Stansbury. Jack’s 1A. In addition to continuing to work on strategic development initiatives (i.e. – special fundraising projects), Stansbury sees Thompson working in tandem with Lucius Sanford – executive director of the Letterwinners Club – to better connect Georgia Tech’s past with its present. “One of my priorities is the intersection of the current student-athlete and the former student-
BY THE NUMBERS
$600M
Money the Alexander-Tharpe Fund, Georgia Tech Athletic Association’s primary fundraising arm, has raised since Thompson’s elevation to associate athletics director in 1982.
8
The Buzz
| SPRING 2018
GT_Buzz_Magazine_2_Spring 18.indd 8
2/23/18 10:13 AM