Texas Christian University Development

Long credited with opening the pipeline of prominent TCU sprinters, Guy Shaw Thompson was inducted for his playing skills as well as his coaching accomplishments. The Kaufman native was a high school standout before coming to TCU to run on the relay teams and play football. He was drafted in 1957 by the San Francisco 49ers, but decided to focus on coaching. As a high school coach in Arlington, his teams won two district championships before he returned to TCU to coach football and track. In 1968, he assumed the head coach position in track until 1980 when he returned to the high school ranks and coached at Sam Houston High School in Arlington. Thompson was one of the first coaches to recruit Jamaican sprinters and his squads routinely placed near the top of NCAA competition. He had eight nationally-ranked relay teams during his tenure at TCU and won the SWC Championship eight times. At Sam Houston High, he won district eight of the 10 years he was the head coach and was twice named the High School Track Coach of the Year (1981 and 1988).