Letter from Zorn inspires ex-Timberline quarterback

With hands on his hips, a beaming David Thompson stood next to his favorite NFL player, Jim Zorn.

And a 15-year-old Thompson, the gifted young quarterback, smiled as their picture was taken.

It was a hot summer afternoon in June 1978 in Cheney. Thompson's coach at Timberline High School in Lacey, Pete Fulton, drove the two of them across the state for a football camp with Zorn, the Seattle Seahawks' quarterback, and Fred Biletnikoff, the Oakland Raiders' wide receiver.

Zorn took a special interest in this young quarterback who was going to be a sophomore at Timberline.

One afternoon in between turnouts, Thompson pointed to a leather football and asked, "Whose ball is that?"

Zorn picked it up, tossed it to Thompson and said, "It's yours."

"Can you sign it?" Thompson said, grinning.

Zorn did. And the young quarterback had a treasure.

Five days later, Thompson and some friends went tubing down the Deschutes River in Olympia, getting out near Rich Road. After rolling their tubes back to the truck, Thompson jogged back down the trail to the river. Everyone else got into the truck.

"I decided I'd go and rinse off," Thompson said. "Everyone else was ready to go. I ran back down the trail and dove in without testing the water."

He dove head first from a bank 10 feet above the water. Landing in shallow water, Thompson struck his head, breaking his neck. He laid motionless, face-down in the river. Helpless, he couldn't turn to his side to get a breath.

A friend who had gone back to check on Thompson rescued him.

"I was conscious the whole time," Thompson said. "I never blacked out. I was holding my breath. I couldn't move."

Thompson spent the next six months in the Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup and is a quadriplegic today.

Fulton visited Thompson in the hospital nearly every day, often feeding him. The Timberline coach wrote Zorn a letter, explaining Thompson's accident.

"I thought Jim Zorn was such a good example that he might buoy David's spirits a bit," Fulton said. "I didn't know what I could do."

To Fulton's surprise, the NFL quarterback responded, writing a two-page, hand-written letter. Fulton read the letter to Thompson, sharing Zorn's words of encouragement and advice. Zorn, a Christian, told Thompson not to be bitter toward God.

"It had an impact on what direction I chose to go with my spiritual life," said Thompson, also a Christian. "His letter was about trusting in God and not playing the blame game. He told me I could go two ways in this. It was pretty instrumental in my attitude."

On Sunday, Thompson, a lifelong Seahawks fan, will be pulling for the Washington Redskins, not Seattle. Zorn is now the Redskins' head coach.

"For once, I'll be pulling for someone other than the Seahawks," Thompson said. "I've watched his career. Normally, when someone finally gets their chance, their moment in the sun, most of the time it doesn't work out. So, I'd be happy to see the Redskins get a good start and have a good record."

After his accident, Thompson returned to high school, graduated and attended Saint Martin's University, where he graduated with a 4.0 GPA. For the past 16 years, he's worked as an enforcement officer in child support for the state.

He doesn't reflect on the day of the accident, wishing he hadn't gone back to the river.

"No. I never look back," Thompson said. "The second I do, the moment I think about what I could have had done, what could have been, I literally feel like I'm sinking. I feel like I'm in that river. When I think about the things I can't do, I start to sink. I think about what I can do and what I've accomplished. Then I feel myself staying afloat."

Fulton, who has kept a copy of Zorn's letter, has remained friends with Thompson through these 30 years. It was while Thompson was lying in the hospital that he shared with Fulton about how to become a Christian.

"The fact that a 15-year-old could lead a guy who worshipped the game of football more than God to Jesus Christ is something," said Fulton, now a teacher and coach at Northwest Christian High School. "He definitely led me to the Lord. He's why I am where I am now. I'm in a Christian school, living a pretty happy life."

Thompson's response to a tragedy and Zorn's letter changed Fulton's life. Fulton and Thompson spoke at churches for several years, sharing their testimonies.

"It turned my life around," Fulton said. "It didn't help me win any more games. But it gave me a peace and a joy in everything I did. It was all because of that tragedy."

And a letter from an NFL quarterback.

Gail Wood can be reached at 360-754-5443 or gwood@theolympian.com.