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Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Man of Many Trades: James Thompson has been delivering the message "No Hope in Dope" to students throughout the country and in other parts of the world for the past 10 years.
Willow Glen resident entertains children while delivering strong anti-drug message
Thompson is also actor and athlete
By Amy Jenkins
Combine feats of strength, jumping rope, ventriloquism, cowboy tricks, harmonica playing and comedy with an anti-drug and "stay in school" message and you have a recipe for an unforgettable school assembly.
For more than 10 years, Willow Glen resident James Brewster Thompson, 48, has delivered such assemblies to elementary, middle and high schools, locally and throughout the world, as spokesperson for the "No Hope in Dope" campaign.
The campaign was started in Honolulu, Hawaii, by a police officer named Leighton Kaonohi. Now retired, Kaonohi recruited Thompson after reviewing his résumé, Thompson says. The campaign's slogan is, "The key to life for you and me is to stay drug free because there's no hope in dope."
The campaign's message is, "If you get involved in drugs you can't be the best you can be," Thompson says. He says this message is more effective than the one used 10 or 15 years ago, when children were scared into staying away from drugs by being told they could die. He says oftentimes they saw their friends and family do drugs, live and remain functional.
"They may be functional but we emphasize that your world could be better and you could reach your full potential without drugs," he says.
At the age of 13, Thompson had a life-changing experience when he realized he could channel his energy in a different direction. He was the clown of his eighth-grade class and would disrupt the teacher and students, he says. So he decided to pick up a book at the library and teach himself ventriloquism.
To this day he uses the "figure"--he prefers not to call it a "dummy"--in his routine, named Soul Brother Ricky.
This lesson is incorporated into the "five-step" program for leading a successful life, during the assembly routine. He challenges children to evaluate their strong points and to redirect destructive behavior into doing something positive, just like his ventriloquism.
One student used to steal cars until Thompson suggested he become a professional repo-man for a finance company. The student stopped stealing cars and now makes more than $500 for each car he repossesses.
Thompson teaches fellow class clowns how to become ventriloquists and encourages them to pursue acting or become a comic so they can get the same "sensation of excitement," they get from drawing attention to themselves in class.
Photograph courtesy of James Thompson
Judo World Champ: Willow Glen resident James Thompson was a member of the American Olympic judo team in 1984. He remains the number two man in the country. He was the 2001 World Judo Champion for Heavyweights in the 45-49 age group.
Thompson learned morals and values as a child growing up in Arkansas. As the oldest child in a family of eight siblings, Thompson was responsible for picking more than 100 pounds of cotton per day when he was 9 years old, or he would get in trouble, he says. This experience, along with other "farm boy" chores like milking cows, instilled values and built his character.
His mother moved to California when he was 8 years old and when she had saved enough money, he joined her. He was 10 years old at the time.
Another life tool Thompson advocates and uses in his own life is visualization. He encourages students to picture themselves doing positive things. He says he graduated from high school because he visualized himself graduating since the ninth grade and hoped to make his mother proud.
"People are stronger when they have positive thoughts," he says. "Most of us program ourselves negatively and have more than 200 negative thoughts per day. I try to get kids to think more positively. When I wake up, I only have good days and great days."
While he is busy teaching these values, he entertains the children and stresses the importance of exercise. Entertainment keeps the children's attention and helps them remember the message, he says. At 6 feet 1 inch tall and 235 pounds of pure muscle, it's easy to tell he works out five days a week.
Thompson's athletic talents are versatile. His jump roping tricks include speed jump roping 250 to 275 jumps per minute; holding a 170-pound person on his back and jumping rope in squat position; holding a 250-pound person on his shoulders while jumping rope; and using a 15-pound heavy rope with a 300-pound man on his back for a set of 12 jumps. He can even do a one-thumb pushup and two-thumb extension pushups.
When Thompson was a child he had a bad temper and used pushups and exercise as a stress reliever and continued improving his skill as he got older, he says. He even made "Ripley's Believe it or Not" for holding the most weight while jumping rope.
The 15-pound heavy rope is "the heaviest rope ever made by a legal company. Before this they made a 10-pound one for Walter Payton and Kareem Abdul Jabar," he says.
It comes as no surprise he has been named the strongest jump roper in the world, pound for pound. His latest endeavor was holding four adults on his back, totaling more than 700 pounds including his weight, all leaving the ground at once.
When not leading school assemblies twice a month, Thompson is busy fighting in judo competitions, acting in movies, appearing on talk shows and counseling youth at juvenile hall, where he has worked for 21 years.
"It is hard to be depressed or stressed when you get outside yourself and help other people," he says.
On Oct. 26, Thompson performed at an assembly at Willow Glen Elementary. "It went over really, really well," says Anita Jilaso, a clerical office staff person at the school. "There was a lot of interaction with the kids and they seemed to be having a good time and learning a lesson. He's very energetic and pulls the kids in to participate."
Since he is single and does not have any children of his own, Thompson says, he considers all the children he teaches his own.
Towering Strength: James Thompson loves to jump rope holding people on his back. Here he's pictured with friends (from left) Bonnie Kaye, Betty Acacio and Connie Salazar. His tricks include speed jump roping 250 to 275 jumps per minute; holding a 170-pound person on his back and jump roping in squat position; holding a 250-pound person on his shoulders while jumping rope; and using a 15-pound heavy rope with a 300-pound man on his back for a set of 12 jumps.
Photograph courtesy of Chris Marks
As an alternate for the Olympic judo team in 1984, Thompson was, and still is, "the number two man in the country," he says. His love for the martial arts led him to minor in Asian American studies at San Jose State University in order to learn more about Japanese culture. While there he majored in psychology.
After performing in jump rope exhibitions in Japan nine times, as well as Italy, Germany, Spain and Australia, he says, he has learned that most people are "inherently good, and if given the opportunity, will do the right thing."
Thompson likes judo because it originates from jujitsu but takes out all the punching, kicking and violence. "They took stuff out so people of all ages could practice the martial art without killing anyone," he says.
Thompson has also competed in two judo world championships-one was in Paris in 1979 and the other in Austria in 1975. He placed in the top 20 or 25, he says.
"The world championships are perhaps tougher than the Olympics because no one boycotts them and everyone shows up for the world championships," he says.
In 1975 he placed third in the Pan American Judo Championship, which took place in Cuba and had participants from North and South America and Canada.
Judo is won by throwing a person full force onto a mat. A competitor is put into a choke hold until they slap the mat twice or pass out from choking. Most people slap out before they pass out, Thompson says. Another way to win is by putting someone in an arm lock until they slap the mat or break an arm.
"We would much rather have someone slap out so they can keep playing," he says. "Some get dislocated elbows but they can recover if they get good therapy and do a range of motion exercises that strengthen their tissue."
The main issues he faces with children are a bad attitude and destructive language, he says. "The reason I've taken it to the extreme is to get the message to kids to not do drugs and to stay in school," he says. "When all is said and done, people won't ask what kind of house or car I had but they will know I made a difference and gave back to the community."
Thompson is an advocate for jumping rope as a form of exercise. He says jumping rope builds character, requires lots of discipline and has an impact on how well a child does in school. Jumping rope for 10 minutes at a rate of 120 jumps per minute burns 120 calories based on a 150-pound person, he says.
At 48, he says he is surprised he still jumps rope. In two or three years he will retire from feats of strength because he suffers from osteoarthritis, is in constant pain and has injured his back, shoulders and joints. But he will continue comedy and light jump rope tricks, he says.
"My goal every new year is to get better at what I'm doing," he says. "I thought I'd be done by now, so I'm tickled pink, or black," he says with a chuckle.
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Willow Glen, California Since 1992
