PHOENIX — A lot has changed since Richard Thompson coached Dwayne Evans nearly 50 years ago, but every time they get together on the track, the memories come racing back.
The two met when Thompson was a coach at a local boy's club and discovered Evans was talented at track and field. That's when Thompson took the lead, getting donations from those in the community — even from Olympic athlete Jesse Owens — so Evans could race at national meets across the country.
"He was always looking out for our program," Evans said. "We ran on faith (that we were) going, we just didn't know how yet."
Evans was soon a track star breaking national records and making it to the Olympic games. He won the bronze in the men's 200-meter event the summer he graduated from South Mountain High School.
If you ask Thompson how it felt to coach Evans all those years ago, he says it's something he never took for granted.
"Honestly, it just hit me all these years... how it felt," Thompson said.
Not just for Evans, but the hundreds of athletes he went on to mentor.
"We grew up in an area where there were a lot of single parents, and he would take on the role of being a father for all of us," Evans said. "Not many men would do that."
Evans is now using what he learned from Thompson as head track coach at South Mountain High School. What might make this story even more surprising is Thompson was in South Mountain's first graduating class back in the 1950s, a time when Black athletes weren't given an equal opportunity.
"They always put the white kids before the Black kids," Thompson said.
But the men say they've always let their talents speak for themselves, or as Thompson likes to say, "Shoot the starting gun, solve the problem."
As a thank you for his contributions, Evans helped create the Richard Thompson South Mountain Classic. It will take place Saturday at South Mountain High School.
It's an invitational, now in its seventh year, with dozens of teams across the state. It's also a fundraiser to help current athletes succeed.
