Wake Forest Sports Hall of Fame
- Induction:
- 1997
Thompson came to Wake Forest in 1966 and helped the school add to its impressive collection of Atlantic Coast Conference championships by playing on league-winners in 1967, 1968 and 1969. The Deacs finished among the top five teams in America in each of those years as well.
Individually, Thompson earned his time in the spotlight as well with two individual championships, as well as runner-up honors in the 1967 ACC Championship.
The native of Laurinburg, N.C., went on to make his mark on the professional circuit following his Wake Forest career. His first PGA Tour victory came in 1974 at the Jackie Gleason Inverrary Classic. For his effort that weekend, he was presented the winner's prize of $52,000 (Remarkably, the second-highest champion's purse on the Tour that year). Thompson immediately donated $10,000 of his first tournament victory to the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, the charitable beneficiary of that event.
He captured another Tour title in 1977 at Pensacola continued to play well into the early 1980s before reaching a somewhat frustrating point of his career. But he preserved through some trying times, and in 1989 - 12 years after his previous PGA Tour win - he was back in the winner's circle at the 1989 Buick Open.
Thompson also enjoyed a successful stint on the Champions Tour, collecting three victories and 44 top-ten finishes in his career.
Leonard Thompson was inducted into the Wake Forest University Sports Hall of Fame on January 24, 1997.
