An All-American in two sports (track & field and football), Joe Thompson came to Augustana from nearby United Township High School in East Moline, Illinois and his name still dots the Viking record books in both sports. Not big, Thompson was an extremely durable performer who carried the football 729 times for 3,779 yards during his final three years. He still ranks second on the school’s career rushing list with those 3,779 yards and he is second in scoring with 292 points. After not gaining a single yard from scrimmage as a freshman, he broke through in 1974 with a sophomore season that saw him rush for 1,285 yards on 249 carries.
He followed that with 1,204 yards on 206 attempts as a junior in 1975 and finished with 1,290 yards on 274 rushes as a senior in 1976. He helped lead Augustana to a fine 19-8-1 mark in his three years as a starter, including a CCIW championship in 1975 and the school’s first ever NCAA Division III playoff appearance as a senior in 1975.
Thompson was the CCIW’s Most Valuable Offensive Player in 1976 and he still holds the following school records: single game rushing (300 yards), single season rushing attempts (274), career rushing attempts (730), single game kickoff returns (six), single season kickoff returns (24), single game kickoff return yards (179 yards), single season kickoff return yards (495 yards) and longest kickoff return (100 yards). He earned NCAA Division III All-American honors three times in football and once in track & field as a pole vaulter in his freshman year. He also won the CCIW pole vault in 1974.
Joe and his wife Rhonda have two sons Quinn and Collin and a daughter Logan and he is retired after serving as the athletic director at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. The winner of an NCAA post-graduate scholarship in 1977, Thompson has an M.S. in physical education from the University of Oregon and a Ph.D. in Education Administration from the University of Wisconsin. Prior to becoming the athletic director at Luther in 1995, he was the head track coach at St. Thomas from 1987-95 and held a similar position at Wisconsin-LaCrosse from 1983-87. He was NCAA Division III national indoor track & field “Coach of the Year” in 1987.
