Former Abilene High School head football coach Don Cumpton has been selected for induction into the Texas High School Coaches Association Hall of Honor.
Cumpton, who spent most of his career as the head coach at Hereford High School, will be inducted at a banquet that will take place during THSCA Coaching School in Houston, July 16-18. He will be inducted into the hall with David Aymond, Tim Buchanan, Bryan Dausin, and Glen West.
Cumpton served as the head coach at Abilene High from 1983-85, compiling a record of 15-14-1. His 1985 AHS team started 4-0-1 with a 7-7 tie with top-ranked Odessa Permian before a four-game losing streak knocked the Eagles out of the playoff chase.
A winner of 115 games in his career, Cumpton was the head coach at Muleshoe High School from 1976-77 before going to Hereford, where he was the head coach from 1978-82. After spending those three seasons at AHS, he returned to Hereford, serving as the head coach and director of athletics from 1986-90 and leading the Whitefaces to the Class 4A state semifinals in 1986 and the area finals in 1988 and 1990.
He retired as the head coach and AD after the 1990 season and spent the final six years in education (1991-96) in education as the assistant superintendent in the Herford AISD. He was the Amarillo Globe-News’ Coach of the Decade for the 1980s, and he wrapped up his career with an overall record of 115-61-6.
Former AHS state-winning quarterback, assistant coach passes away
Former Abilene High School quarterback and assistant football coach H.P. Hawkins, who led the Eagles to back-to-back state championships in the mid-1950s, passed away on Feb. 14 at the age of 85.
Hawkins attended Alta Vista Elementary School and Central Junior High School before entering Abilene High as a sophomore in the fall of 1953. One year later, under the direction of legendary head coach Chuck Moser, Hawkins directed the Eagles to the first of three straight state championships. The Eagles would win a state-record 49 straight games from mid-1954 through the end of the 1957 season, claiming state championships in 1954, 1955, and 1956.
In 1999, the Dallas Morning-News named the 1954-57 “War Eagles” as the state’s “Team of the Century” for high school football. Hawkins later played football at Abilene Christian College where he graduated, and then went into coaching where he coached football and baseball at Cooper High and Odessa High. He left the coaching profession in 1968 and began a new career in real estate. He returned to coaching in 1994, finishing out his career at AHS and Hereford High School. After retiring from coaching again, he returned and appraised real estate through 2022.
Former Abilene High School head football coach passes away
Jerry Thormahlen, who was the Abilene High School head football coach from 1970-73, passed away on March 2 at the age of 85.
After graduating from Elgin High School in 1956, he attended Hardin-Simmons University where he played football and baseball on an athletics scholarship. He left HSU after his freshman year and went to Alpine, where he played three seasons of college football at Sul Ross State University. He coached at Odessa Hood Junior High, Wink High School and Abilene High. After leaving AHS following the 1973 season, he coached for one season at Lubbock Coronado High School before leaving coaching for the insurance industry.
Thormahlen was also a member of the Army National Guard from 1956-59. As the head coach at Abilene High, Thormahlen was 16-24 with a 5-5 season in 1970 and a 6-4 record in 1971.
