Local hoops legend Machine Gun Thompson remembered as great scorer, even better coach and person

By Ray Brewer (contact)

Tuesday, April 7, 2015 | 2 a.m.

The high school basketball game wasn’t scheduled to start for a few hours, and the doors to the gym at the old Las Vegas High School in downtown were closed.

Fans were again packing the gym to watch local legend Freddie “Machine Gun” Thompson and his Wildcats light up the scoreboard. Thompson was given his moniker because he never met a jump shot he didn’t like, putting on a scoring display each Friday night some still easily recall.

“The talent he had was unbelievable,” said Freddie Banks, the former Valley High and UNLV great who grew up idolizing Thompson and later coaching with him at Canyon Springs.

“I would try to do the things he did. He would shoot the ball at will and always make it,” Banks continued. “Those games would be so packed. If you didn’t get there by a certain time, they would shut the doors.”

Thompson, who played for UNLV in the late 1970s and went on to coach at Desert Pines and Canyon Springs highs, died April 2 of pancreatic cancer. He was 55.

For all of Thompson’s great moments in basketball, one clearly stood out. In 2011, the Canyon Springs team he was an assistant coach for won the state championship. His oldest son, Mikey Thompson, was the Pioneers’ best player.

The celebration that night on the floor at the Orleans Arena is a moment father and son long worked for, and will forever cherish.

“To win a state championship with my dad was a blessing for us both,” said Mikey Thompson, who plays at Boise State. “All he asked is that we worked hard. If you didn’t work hard, you wouldn’t play on the court for him. If you were mentally and physically tough, you would play a lot for him. We had a pretty tough team that year.”

Mikey Thompson’s college career finally took shape this past season at Boise State. He started 20 games, and the Broncos won the Mountain West regular season championship. A few days later, while they were in Las Vegas for the league tournament, he first learned of his dad’s illness. While they were in Dayton, Ohio, the following week for the NCAA Tournament, Thompson’s dad sent him a text message saying he had cancer of the pancreas.

Some of Boise State’s other players had family in the stands that day. Thompson’s biggest fan, his dad, would watch on television. Next year, for Thompson’s senior season, he said his dad won’t miss a game.

“He’s my guardian angel and he’ll be looking over me,” Mikey Thompson said.

That’s how most of the students at Canyon Springs felt about Freddie Thompson. Thompson was a physical education teacher and often treated the children he taught as if they were his own. When teachers and students returned from spring break Monday, they were shocked to hear of his death. He was only sick for about a month.

“Some of these kids don’t have a father in their lives,” said Banks, the Canyon Springs coach. “He was that father figure, that role model. He was the type of guy you wanted your son around and to be like.”

Freddie Thompson had been at Canyon Springs since the school opened in 2004 and was instrumental in the Pioneers becoming a state powerhouse. They’ve won four of the past five Sunrise Region championships.

He’s spent the past few seasons coaching the junior varsity team — a request his good friend Banks made, knowing Thompson would have players ready for the varsity.

“He never sugarcoated it with his players. He was direct,” Mikey Thompson said. “They never took his comments to heart. They knew he was making them better players.”

Added Banks,“It’s been hard for me to go back to the gym and office. It brings back some great memories of him. There was nobody better.”

Thompson is also survived by his wife, Bonita Thompson, and twins Aaron and Aleah.

Ray Brewer can be reached at 702-990-2662 or [email protected]. Follow Ray on Twitter at twitter.com/raybrewer21