Glenn O. Thompson

Don Cantrell

Glenn O. Thompson was many things to many people before he died of

cancer in August of 1995.

But the old sports fans of the harbor area remember him best as an

exceptional All-Sunset League quarterback in 1937. It marked the Newport

Harbor High debut into the Sunset League and away from the old Orange

League.

The Tars shocked and defeated champion Excelsior, but a league tie and

a loss knocked them out of the title race.

Coach Ralph K. Reed said, “Thompson was by far the best signal caller

in the conference and the best in Harbor’s short history. Smart and

inspiring. We won every game he was in, and he scored on every opponent

and engineered every drive. He was the team’s key punter and passer.”

One of his top skills was blocking, and he was voted Most Valuable

Player in the League.

The Sailors got past Garden Grove, 6-0, but were tied by Orange, 6-6,

and fell to Anaheim, 12-0, before finishing out strongly with three

straight victories - besting Long Beach Jordan, 6-0; Excelsior, 19-14;

and Huntington Beach, 7-0.

Five of nine rivals were shut out.

It was Reed’s last varsity football team, and his winningest, as he

turned the reins over to Dick Spaulding.

He was valued in other sports and served as student body president in

1937-38.

Thompson always had a grand sense of humor. The school paper asked for

his New Year’s resolution in 1938. He exclaimed, “Off of women;

especially one.”

He and his two pals from third grade in Costa Mesa, George Lumel and

Rollo McClellan, all made first-team, all-league in 1937. All three were

members of the ’36 Bee grid team, first to ever win a football title at

Harbor High.

His leadership qualities were always in evidence later at Whittier

College and the U.S. Coast Guard, where he eventually became a rear

admiral, and served in numerous areas across the globe.

In time, he also graduated as an aviator and his assignments included

Kodiak, Alaska, San Francisco and Miami.

He once served two tours of duty in Coast Guard headquarters in

Washington, D.C. He retired from duty as Commander, 13th Coast Guard District, headquartered in Seattle.

His father served as director of a small water district on Costa

Mesa’s westside for many years. He remained a director after the district

merged with the newly formed Costa Mesa County Water District.

After military service, the admiral and his wife Jean chose to make

their home in Grass Valley. He is survived by his widow and four

daughters and was placed to rest with appropriate military honors.

Glenn O. Thompson, an honored member of the Daily Pilot’s Sports Hall

of Fame, celebrating the oncoming millennium.