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lockportlegend.com sports
the Lockport Legend | January 17, 2019 | 39
fastbreak
22nd Century Media File Photo
1st and 3
LTHS girls bowling
brushes up for
postseason
1. Close match
The Lockport girls
bowling team fell to
Lincoln-Way Central
by a final of 1,763-
1,740 on Thursday,
Jan. 10, at Strike
and Spare II, but
it was a chance to
let seven different
individuals bowl for
the Porters.
2. Taking away positives
Morgan Lane paced
the Porters, rolling
a 406 total in two
games and getting
the high game of
the day with a 230
in the opener, which
her team won 892-
864.
3. Other top contributors
Senior Talia Roti
(173, 162) got a
335, while junior
Maci Minarcik (178,
151) bowled a 329
for Lockport in the
match against the
Knights.
Legendary Lockport basketball coach earns 300th win
Lawrence Thompson
Jr. compiled 245
victories with the
Porters
Randy Whalen
Freelance Reporter
Lawrence Thompson, Jr.
never thought about reaching
300 wins as a varsity
basketball coach.
But that’s exactly what
the former Lockport Township
boys basketball coach
accomplished earlier this
month. Now the head boys
basketball coach at Joliet
Central, he reached the milestone
on Jan. 4 when his
Steelmen squad defeated
Crete-Monee 52-26 in Joliet.
Now in his 19th season
as a head coach, Thompson
has come a long way since
he started at Lockport in a
pre-employment program
as part of the co-op department
back in the 1982-1983
school year.
“No, you don’t think
about that,” Thompson said
of reaching 300 victories.
“When I started at Lockport,
Bob Basarich was there
and he finished with 496
wins. Before I got there, his
[1977-1978] team had won
the state title and his teams
won 20 games every year.
Through Bob, I got to meet
coaches like [West Aurora’s]
Gordie Kerkman and [Rich
Central’s] Ron Brauer.
“I was just a young coach
trying to find my way. I just
wanted to keep going.”
Thompson certainly kept
Former Lockport boys basketball coach Lawrence Thompson Jr. (pictured here in 2012)
coached at LTHS for 33 years and recently earned his 300th win as a head coach. 22nd
Century Media File Photo
going. He was at Lockport
for 33 years and coached
some level of basketball every
year there. He spent the
final 16 seasons there as a
head coach. When he retired
from Lockport following the
2014-2015 school year, his
time coaching the Porters
ended.
But that wasn’t the end of
the line for his coaching career.
“Even when I retired
from education I wanted to
coach,” Thompson said. “An
opportunity came along and
it was close to home. That
was good. My wife [Rita]
and I still live in Lockport
and really didn’t want to relocate.”
In the 2015-2016 school
year Thompson, who still
works at Lockport Township
as a dean’s assistant, was the
sophomore coach at Joliet
West. But once the Steelmen
job opened across town, he
took that opportunity and ran
with it.
“It’s just a blessing to be
here,” Thompson said of Joliet
Central. “Jeff Corcoran
got this program back on
track before I got here. Now
the kids are working hard
and taking pride in what they
do.”
One of the players who
has that pride is senior Jared
King. A three-sport athlete,
he was the quarterback on
the Steelmen football team,
can play all five positions on
the basketball team, and is a
pitcher on the baseball team.
He appreciates what Thompson
has taught him.
“He’s a Lockport legend,”
King said of Thompson. “He
stresses the fundamentals
a lot. Not all coaches stress
that. He stresses things like
the jump/stop move. Toward
me, he’s also stressed leadership.
[As a team] we’ve
made a name for ourselves.
Now we just have to keep
pushing forward.”
That’s something the
Steelmen have done. They
had a record of 9-5 record
heading into last Friday’s
home game against Minooka.
They have finished with
a 23-6 record each and won
a regional title each of the
last two seasons. After going
245-201 in his 16 seasons as
head coach for the Porters,
Thompson added 55 wins in
two-and-a-half years at Joliet
Central.
But there was great success
at Lockport too. Thompson
won six regional titles
and had a flurry of success
between the 2005-2006 and
2011-2012 seasons. There
were no losing seasons during
that time as the Porters
won a trio of conference titles,
along with five regional
championships. They also
had four years of at least 21
wins in a five-season span.
That was a period of success
that hadn’t been seen
at Lockport in more than 20
years, and his teams won an
unprecedented three straight
sectional titles, capped off
by a fourth-place finish in
Class 4A in March of 2008.
There are numerous
games that Thompson talks
about from that time. But
two of the forgotten ones
were a 64-54 overtime victory
against top-seeded
Bolingbrook in the regional
title game on March 3, 2006.
That started the run of postseason
success. Also on Jan.
20, 2007, the Porters stunned
West Aurora 58-50 to end
the Blackhawks’ 60-game
home winning streak, which
was the fifth longest in state
history.
Thompson is a 1977 Joliet
East graduate. There,
he played basketball but excelled
at cross country and
track, placing fifth in the state
in Class AA in the 880-yard
run in 1977 for the Kingsmen.
He came to Lockport
shortly after graduating from
Please see thompson, 37
LISTEN UP
“We had seven different people bowl, and all these girls are
capable of bowling varsity.”
Art Cwudzinski — LTHS girls bowling coach, on his belief in the
team
Tune In
Girls Bowling
Tourney time — 8 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 19, SWSC
Tournament at Strike and Spare II
• The Porters host the conference competition,
looking to begin a run to state.
Index
34 - This Week In
33 - Athlete of the Week
FASTBREAK is compiled by Contributing Editor
Thomas Czaja, tom@homerhorizon.com.