By Aaron Castrejon
BroncoAthletics.com
CULIACAN, Mexico - For former Cal Poly Pomona student-athlete Walter Thompson, the game of basketball is a true passion.
Currently, Thompson is playing basketball in Latin America with the Caballeros de Culiacan from the Cibacopa Mexican spring league.
"Playing in Latin America has been an unbelievable experience," he said. "We play all over Mexico, Central and South America. It has been great to be able to experience the beauty and culture of so many Latin American countries."
Thompson is of Mexican heritage and he had no trouble fitting in or speaking with his teammates and coaches.
"Traveling is one thing that I love to do," Thompson said. "When you get paid to travel to different places throughout the world because of basketball it's a win-win situation."
Thompson spent only one year at Cal Poly Pomona (2008-09), but said it was the best experience of his collegiate life.
"From day one I knew I was in a special place," Thompson said. "CPP was not only diverse in ethnicities and culture, it also provided diverse ideologies within the faculty and student body, which was fascinating and inspiring to see."
Thompson began his professional basketball career in the 2009-10 season with the Halcones de Veracruz, in Veracruz, Mexico. His team represented Mexico in the FIBA Americas, a zone of teams in the International Basketball Federation, and played against the best teams from Latin America, including Panama, Brazil and Argentina.
Thompson played with the Halcones until he fractured his foot the first game of the 2010-11 season. He decided that he would have a better chance of healing if he came back home.
"It was tough to be in a cast and crutches for about six months," Thompson said. "But being injured gave me a chance to reflect on a lot of different things."
Thompson is very passionate about helping needy and underrepresented peoples. He volunteers at St. Joseph Center, a non-profit organization in his hometown of Venice, Calif., that provides needy families with help in counseling, housing and other areas.
He also interned there during his recuperation and served as an aide to the assistant director.
Thompson's mother, EleuteriaHernández González, a student advisor at UCLA's César E. Chávez Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies, helped shape Thompson into the man he is today.
"Sports have been an integral part of his life," Hernández González said. "His father and I both played tennis in college. He comes from a very athletic family."
His mother was also active in the Latino civil rights movement of the '80s and '90s.
"I intentionally took him with me to protests, peace rallies and hunger strikes," she said, "so that he would be able to witness the need to help the less fortunate and to fight for justice."
Thompson said those experiences definitively motivated him to help others.
Thompson is also working on a creative endeavor titled The Real Angels (TRA). It will consist of a series of blogs, magazines and documentaries highlighting the interconnectedness between the diverse communities of Los Angeles.
"It is still in its developmental stage, but has already garnered strong support and interest from different groups of people," Thompson said.
Most importantly, Thompson doesn't want to be known for just playing basketball.
"I would like to be known for being a great person," he said. "I think that's more important than any accomplishment on the basketball court."
