Robert Thompson (born February 4, 1960 in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

) is a retired

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

. He played for the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

from 1979 to 1982 and in the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

for the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South divisio ...

and

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

Early years

A native of

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, Thompson attended Eisenhower High School in

Blue Island, Illinois Blue Island is a city in Cook County, Illinois, located approximately south of Chicago's Loop. Blue Island is adjacent to the city of Chicago and shares its northern boundary with that city's Morgan Park neighborhood. The population was 22,558 ...

University of Michigan

Thompson enrolled at the University of Michigan and played football under head coach

Bo Schembechler Glenn Edward "Bo" Schembechler Jr. ( ; April 1, 1929 – November 17, 2006) was an American football player, coach, and athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Miami University from 1963 to 1968 and at the University of ...

from 1979 to 1982. In the final game of the 1980 season, Thompson helped secure the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

championship with a key fourth-down sack of

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

quarterback

Art Schlichter Arthur Ernest Schlichter (, born April 25, 1960) is an American former gridiron football, football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for four seasons with the Indianapolis Colts, Colts franchise. He also played one Can ...

, as the Buckeyes were driving in Michigan territory with less than a minute left in the game. The 1980 team held opponents to an average of 1.8 points per game in the final five games of the season and defeated

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

in the 1981 Rose Bowl. In four years playing football for the

Michigan Wolverines The Michigan Wolverines comprise 29 varsity sports teams at the University of Michigan. These teams compete in the NCAA's Division I and in the Big Ten Conference in all sports except women's water polo, which competes in the NCAA inter-divisio ...

, Thompson was credited with 214 tackles (including 39 tackles for loss), 188 yards on tackles for loss and 123 yards on quarterback sacks. Thompson was selected by his teammates as a co-captain for both the

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

and 1982 football teams. In November 1982, two Michigan linebackers (Thompson and Paul Girgash) were all selected to the first team on the ''

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

'' 1982 All-

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

football team. He was also selected as a 1982 first-team Academic All-America team player.

Professional football

Thompson was selected by the

Houston Oilers The Houston Oilers were a professional American football team that played in Houston from its founding in 1960 to 1996 before relocating to Memphis, and later Nashville, Tennessee becoming the Tennessee Titans. The Oilers began play in 1960 as ...

in the 8th round of the

1983 NFL Draft The 1983 NFL Draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 26–27, 1983, at the New York She ...

. He signed with the Oilers and participated in the pre-season games with the team, but he was released by Houston in the final roster cutdown to 49 players. In October 1983, he signed a contract as a free agent with the

. Thompson appeared in 10 games for the Buccaneers in 1983. In 1984, Thompson sustained two broken toes in the pre-season and began the regular season on injured reserve. He returned to the Buccaneers roster in October 1984, and played in 9 games during the 1984 season. In 1985, Thompson was part of the Buccaneers roster during the pre-season, but he was released in late August 1985. During the

1987 NFL season The 1987 NFL season was the 68th regular season of the National Football League. This season featured games predominantly played by replacement players, as the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) players were on strike from ...

, Thompson returned to the

as a replacement player for the

during the players strike. He was one of only seven replacement players on the Lions who had prior NFL experience. He appeared in all 3 games for the Lions during the players' strike. In February 1988, Thompson signed as a free agent with the Lions, but he did not make the Lions regular season roster.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Robert 1960 births Living people Detroit Lions players Michigan Wolverines football players Tampa Bay Buccaneers players National Football League replacement players