Loudon Head Baseball Coach Bill Thompson is joining company with University of Tennessee greats Todd Helton and Phil Garner.  Thompson was elected to the Tennessee Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame last Saturday, joining 43 other legendary Tennessee players, college coaches and high school coaches.

"It is a great honor.  I was very humbled by it," Thompson said of his election to the hall.  This is the second hall of fame induction Thompson has been a part of, as he was inducted into the Knoxville Area Coaches Hall of Fame in the 1990s.
Thompson entered the hall of fame along with local coaches Rick Haddock of Summertown (21 years and retired) and Ernie Smith (32 years and still coaching) of David Lipscomb.

In his comments during his induction, Thompson said he talked about how everyone has been focusing on "dream jobs" recently.  "I've had my dream job for 35 years now," he said.
Thompson has coached at Loudon High School since the inception of the baseball program in 1975.  He is the only head coach the school has ever known in baseball and, during his tenure, he has compiled a 667-361 overall record.  The 667 wins is good for sixth in all-time high school baseball coaching wins.

Thompson, however, credited his players over the years with a great deal of the record he's posted.  "Our players here have all put team first, listened and did what they had to to win," he said.  "We've had a lot of good players with good attitudes," he added.

Thompson said it hasn't always been apparent to him that he was on track to enter a hall of fame with just 43 others as members.  In fact, early on the thought of a hall of fame didn't even cross his mind.

"Back in that first game when we got beat 18-1 and went 0-18 in that first year, I don't think I would have ever imagined this," Thompson joked.
He no longer has to imagine it, however, as he is now enshrined as one of the greatest coaches in Tennessee history.