Thompson Junior High Coach Retires After 33 Years

With cheers of “Go Coach! Go Coach!” reverberating in the cafeteria, Jack Williams made his way to the front for a final farewell to Thompson’s wrestling team.

Williams has been a coach and teacher at Thompson for 33 years and will be retiring this year. Thursday marked the final home meet of the wrestling team, which they won for a record of 8-1 on the season.

“This is the stuff I’m going to miss,” said Williams, gazing around the gymnasium as the students cleaned up the wrestling mats and talked about their latest victory, many coming up to say thanks to their coach. “Good stuff.”

Williams was surprised with a party after the home meet, complete with several cakes and fruit punch.

“Wrestlers!” he called from the front of the room. “It looks like there’s cake for you up here.” The announcement was met by loud cheers, until Williams added with a smile, “After you’ve picked up the mats, of course.”

The groans of protest were cut off by laughter as the wrestlers raced around rolling up mats, ripping up tape and bringing out tables for the attendees.

The attendees, which included current students, parents and past wresters who had trained under Williams, filled the cafeteria eating cake, which featured a picture of Williams from his college days and his signature catchphrase “good stuff.”

Keith Wheeler, who graduated from Thompson back in 1980, was one Jack Williams’ first wrestlers.

“He pushed us really hard,” recalled Wheeler. “Right out of the gate we worked hard and had a good team. He was a great coach.”

Eighth-grader Logan Torres wrestled for two years at Thompson.

“Wrestling is really good at building you up both mentally and physically,” he said.  Torres won his match of the night by having his opponent “tap out,” meaning he surrendered. “We’re going to miss him.”

Fellow wrestling coach Dave Desiderio said it’s going to be hard to find another coach like Williams.

“We really gelled together,” he said. “If we did have a disagreement it was never a big one. And we never let it impact the kids."

Desiderio described Williams as a “gigantic knowledge base” and said that due to Williams’ time in a higher level of wrestling – he wrestled throughout high school and at Northern Illinois University -- he brought so much more to the kids.

Known for his sense of humor, Williams also coaches the cross country and track teams at Thompson and teaches industrial tech and wood. He will be finishing up his coaching at Thompson with the track team come March.

“You really get to know the kids so well,” he said as his favorite part of being a teacher and coach. "I really am going to miss this."