Rise With The Sooners
Raised in Lawton, Oklahoma, Thompson proved to be a highly skilled athlete and was recruited by the University of Oklahoma, a premier NCAA Division I-A college football program, under head coach Barry Switzer. He was also drafted by Major League Baseball's Cincinnati Reds in the 34th round as a second baseman; however, he decided to focus on football. As a redshirt freshman, Thompson became the starting quarterback of the nationally ranked Sooners for the 1987 season. The highlight came on November 21, 1987, when Thompson led the offense of then #2-ranked Sooners to a dominating victory over the #1 Nebraska Cornhuskers in a game that was heavily hyped as the Game of the Century II. Thompson subsequently appeared on the cover of the November 30 issue of Sports Illustrated as the Sooners took the #1 spot in the polls. While the Sooners would drop their final game of the season in the 1988 Orange Bowl and finish 11-1, Thompson's status as a nationally famous collegiate athlete was confirmed.
During the 1988 season, Thompson, now a redshirt sophomore, led the Sooners to a 9-3 record but did not play due to a leg injury in the 1989 Florida Citrus Bowl. Thompson was a successful quarterback, named to the All-Big Eight Conference - 1st team. Off the field he was a celebrity, volunteering to speak to at-risk youth about how to succeed in the face of adversity and, ironically, the danger of illegal drugs.
Read more about this topic: Charles Thompson (American Football)
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“Early, as well as late,
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—Henry Vaughan (1622–1695)
“Early, as well as late,
Rise with the sun, and set in the same bowers;”
—Henry Vaughan (1622–1695)
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