Local basketball pioneer dies

Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2004 | 11:30 a.m.

Odis Thompson, a star of the 1957-58 Las Vegas High School state basketball championship team who also helped propel Nevada Southern University (now UNLV) to its first winning basketball season, died Thursday in North Las Vegas at the age of 62.

Thompson made his first lasting impression on Michael "Chub" Drakulich in the 1956-57 season, when Thompson was a junior at Las Vegas High and Drakulich was coach of Las Vegas' rival, Rancho High.

In 1958, Drakulich became the first head basketball coach of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, then called Nevada Southern University, and led the Rebels to a dismal 5-13 season against junior colleges and university freshman squads.

By the next season, Thompson and Drakulich were united on the UNLV campus and together they were part of the first winning season for the program that became the "Dynasty in the Desert."

Services for Thompson, a Southern Nevada resident of 48 years, will be at 11 a.m. Thursday at Pilgrim Rest Missionary Baptist Church, 1240 W. Adams Ave. Visitation will be until 7 p.m. today at Palm Mortuary, 1325 N. Main St. Burial will be at Palm Memorial Park.

Drakulich said Thompson, who had earned letters for his first two seasons of basketball, left school before his senior season because he had to work.

"About 95 percent of our players at that time had jobs," Drakulich said, noting there were no big-time sports scholarships in those days.

After college Thompson worked at the Nevada Test Site and later put in 31 years as a bartender at Caesars Palace.

Drakulich, who also served as UNLV's first athletic director and now is retired, said he last saw Thompson about eight years ago at a UNLV function at Caesars Palace.

"Odis was tending bar and called out my name," Drakulich said. "It was so good to see him after all of those years."

Thompson is survived by his wife, Vertis Thompson; a son, Odis Tyrone Thompson of Las Vegas; a daughter, Sonja Barnum, of North Las Vegas; his mother, Georgia Mae Thompson, of North Las Vegas; five sisters, Maybell Jefferson, Shelly White and Tena Postell, all of North Las Vegas, Beatrice Soares of Henderson and Dianne Long of Las Vegas; three brothers, Johnnie Thompson and Freddie Thompson, both of North Las Vegas and Ronnie Thompson of Henderson; and two grandchildren.