Lamont Thompson inducted into WSU hall of fame with serene humility

Lamont Thompson was one of those athletes you admire easily.

His play on the field spoke volumes about his character and his talent. Simply put he’s probably the best safety ever to play football for Washington State University. His 24 interceptions remain a Pac-10 record, and his stellar play in Pullman earned him a second-round selection in the 2002 NFL draft by the Cincinnati Bengals.

Off the field he was a man of few words and in my infrequent interactions with him the fewer words he could use, the better.

He’s easily one of the most self-contained athletes I’ve ever met. He had no need to pound his chest and tell people how good he was; his play on the field did that most eloquently.

I saw Lamont again Friday night when the Washington State University athletic department inducted him and 24 others into the school’s Hall of Fame at a dinner at the Davenport Grand Hotel. In fact, we sat at the same table.

I’d like to say that we had a nice chat about old times before the festivities began, but that would be an overstatement. But we did exchange pleasantries. I told him that his induction was well-deserved, and he was thankful. He said he was honored to be included in the 2015 induction class with so many Cougar greats, and that he was especially looking forward to seeing fellow inductee Marcus Trufant.

When Thompson was a senior he helped mentor a handful of freshmen defensive backs, among them Trufant and Erik Coleman – both of whom, like their mentor, had lengthy careers in the NFL.

Once dinner got underway, things got quiet at the table save for smatterings of applause as each of the inductees in attendance came forward to accept a Hall of Fame plaque and say a few words.

That’s when I finally hit on the word I had been grasping for to describe Lamont Thompson. Serene.

There is a serenity about the man that I admire. Self-confidence that never transgresses over to cockiness, and an inner peacefulness about who he is and what he’s about that never seems to waver.

Thompson’s wife and young son were with him – his wife incredibly proud of her husband and pleased to be sharing the once-in-a-lifetime moment. For his son, the spitting image of his father save for the ear-to-ear smile he gets from his mother, the night was a little long. Dessert, it turned out, was of more interest to him than some of the inductees.

But once his father’s name was called and a video described his Washington State career, that smile went from megawatt to incandescent.

There is no honor greater in the life of a human being than to have their offspring look on them with the love and pride that was showered on Lamont Thompson during those moments.

The final obligation of the night for the 20 inductees present for the ceremony was to retire to an adjacent room to pose for a group picture. While the group assembled it was fun to watch the interactions. Former teammates Pat Beach and Keith Millard found a spot to talk over old times. While Millard found his niche as a defensive tackle for the Cougars and later four different NFL franchises, the pair started out as tight ends together during Millard’s freshman year.

Former running back Jerome Harrison was a center of attention all night after his recovery from surgery to remove a brain tumor discovered when he was traded from the Detroit Lions to the Philadelphia Eagles.

Rick Riley, one of the legendary high school distance runners who put Spokane and Washington State on the track and field map, chatted quietly with other track inductees.

During his acceptance speech, Riley admitted to being a bit of a prima donna when he arrived in Pullman.

“My roommate, when I got there, was Gerry Lindgren,” he said. “So every day we’d go out to run the hills to train, and I’d be humbled.”

Thompson chatted quietly with a number of fellow inductees, and while he did, his son never let him out of his sight.

It was obvious to him all of these people were there to have their picture taken with his dad, and he approved. Everyone had to be as proud of his dad as he was.

And who could argue with him about that?