Page 50 - 2020 Sollenberger

It takes a village: Determined Thompson thriving under watchful eye of family, mentors
Meet the Thompson family: (from L-R) Clay, Dirk, Melissa and Ty, Mesquite’s D-I-bound quarterback. (Thompson family photo)
By Jose Garcia azpreps365.com
Ty Thompson is a multi-mythical state champion in tetherball. At least in his mind he is.
They don’t give out trophies for playing the playground game, but the super competitive Thompson would display them if they did.
“I was undefeated all the way through junior high,” said the Mesquite High senior as a matter of fact.
Thompson isn’t kidding about his overpowering tetherball game.
He’s a nice kid, but just don’t challenge him — at anything. That will to succeed isn’t immediately apparent.
But it’s there, hidden and constantly bubbling behind his calm de- meaner. They do give out trophies in football, however, and Thompson, the next great Arizona high school senior quarterback, is chasing them and so much more.
In two short years he skyrocketed up the nation’s high school quarterback rating charts. He worked extremely hard to get there, but Thompson also credits the supportive team around him for helping him reach this point.
It begins with his family and continues with former NFL quarterback Donovan McNabb, some of the best quarterback trainers in the state and his Mesquite High family.
“There are a couple of important things that my parents instilled in me since I was young,” Thompson said. “Not to ever accept mediocrity is one of them. That never flew in this house.”
His dad, Dirk, works in finance information security and his mom, Melissa, is an endurance athlete and flight attendant.
As a young kid, Dirk recalls seeing his son’s competitive spirit when Thompson played with his brother, Clay, who is three years older than Thompson. At one point, the Thompson brothers were the same height and many thought they were twins before Thompson kept growing.
Besides toting a tight end frame and strong right arm, Thompson also is a bright student (ranked 15th overall in his senior class at Mesquite). Origami sheets, Rubik’s Cubes and chess boards were once his go to toys.
Even back then, he also hated to lose. Dirk sensed that when Clay and his brother were playing a video game.
“I was in the kitchen and heard them hooting and hollering and then saw Clay holding his stomach,” Dirk said. “Ty hit him because he was losing. We had a conversation about being a good loser.”
Later on that day, Thompson was losing again to his brother.
This time he took a different approach, but not exactly the one Dirk wanted.
“Ty turned off the game,” Dirk said, “and he looked at me as if to say, ‘That’s better than hitting him, right?’”
That sibling rivalry evolved into brotherly love and always doing the right thing, just like their parents taught them.
COVID-19 extended Clay’s summer stay at home before returning to
the University of Texas Permian Basin, where he plays Division II baseball.
“Spending time with Clay has been one of the positives about the pandemic,” Thompson said.
The coronavirus also halted Thompson’s religious gym rou- tine, but he continued to train at home and with another big brother of sorts, McNabb.
Thompson met McNabb when he was 11, when McNabb was asked by a friend to talk to a team Thompson was on. Mc- Nabb didn’t know at the time, but he was Thompson’s favorite NFL quarterback.
“The fact that I’m working with (McNabb) now is surreal,” Thompson said.
McNabb, a former high school multi-sport star, lives in
Mesquite’s Ty Thompson is coming off a season in which he threw for 4,074 yards and 45 TDs. (Darin Sicurello photo/MaxPreps)
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