Thompson said he was glad to go to a nearby city where he could work in his chosen field, but he never wanted to live there.
“Union is just home,” he said, “If I didn't love Union, I wouldn't have worked 30 years in Spartanburg and drove back and forth. I never considered moving to Spartanburg. It's laid back here and settled.”
Thompson's love for his home town is one of the things that prompted him to run for city council 10 years ago and one of the reasons why he chose to run for mayor when the position came open. In November, he became Union's first African American mayor.
Now 57, Thompson is the kind of man who holds dear to his roots, including his days as a child in the Lukesville Community.
He is the son of the late Helen Stinson Thompson and Dudley Thompson Jr. Thompson and his sister, Debbie Young, were reared by their grandmother, the late Josephine Thompson. He has attended St. Luke Baptist Church in the Lukesville Community since he was a child and is chairman of the rebuilding committee for the church, which burned in October 2007. He is also a member of the trustee board.
Thompson graduated from Sims High School in 1970, where he excelled in sports. A running back and offensive lineman, Thompson suffered a knee injury playing football during his junior year. Surgery on his knee was performed by the Washington Redskins' team physician, who diagnosed him with having an injury similar to one sustained by Joe Namath. He was equipped with a knee brace identical to one worn by Namath. In 2000, he was named to the Union High School Sports Hall of Fame.
The day Thompson graduated from high school, his father died. He decided he wanted a change in his life and he moved. He worked as an electrician's assistant at Standard Electric Company in Kensington, Md. He went to college at Temple Technical Institute in Washington, D.C., where he studied radio and TV broadcasting.
Later, Thompson moved to Sarasota, Fla., where he worked and attended the Radio Engineering Institute and obtained his FCC first class radio/telephone license.
Albert Smith, now a Spartanburg attorney, was working as a broadcaster with WSPA TV in Spartanburg. He told Thompson the station was looking for more minority employees and encouraged Thompson to apply. Thompson was hired on Dec. 20. 1976. He said he met with resistance from some employees because of his race and his qualifications - few of the younger workers had a First Class FCC license.
Thompson began working as a radio engineer and later became a studio camera operator. He later moved into the engineering side of broadcasting, as a master control switcher and tape room operator. Later in his career, Thompson worked in the production department as an audio operator for the noon and evening news shows.
The news director liked the work Thompson had done on commercials as a cameraman and moved him into production and news assignments. Thompson later became chief photographer, supervising 10 other employees.
The first news story he covered was a train accident in Taylors. Thompson was in the office when the accident was dispatched over the scanner. Thompson made a quick trip, arriving as EMS was there and getting good coverage.
“I had an opportunity to move around before the authorities got there and secured the area,” he said.
Two teen-agers skipping school had got caught walking on a trestle with a Seaboard Coastline train approaching. Both were struck and killed.
“Another story that stands out in my mind - and here again I was milling around the station - when I heard there was a plane crash in Boiling Springs,” Thompson said. “I hopped in the car and here again I was one of the first ones on the scene. I went in the woods with the EMS guys, through the briars.”
Once again, being quick to respond helped Thompson get good news coverage. The pilot of the A-5 Marine jet was returning from a mission in Nevada when his plane crashed.
Over the years Thompson also covered United States presidential candidates who came to the Spartanburg area, from Jimmy Carter to John McCain.
On Jan. 9, Thompson will retire from Media General - the company that owns WSPA - where he is a central broadcast control operator. Union residents can expect no major changes as he settles full time into the mayor's position, but they can expect to see him promote what is good and positive about Union.
“I am not going to come in trying to swing a big stick,” he said. “I think the city is in good shape. The past administration ... I think it, along with city council, did a good job of placing plans in motion to insure the future of this city will be secure. We have some good folks on council who had some forethought and vision about the direction that Union should be moving in. We have a good direction and hopefully we can stick with the plan and keep moving in that positive direction.
The father of three children - Joy, Muntasir and Harold Jr. - Thompson said he wants Union to remain a place future generations can be proud of.
“My plan is to find something positive that Union can be identified with beside Susan Smith and what happened in the last administration,” he said. “I have traveled around the country and I believe people around the country are watching us. I feel bad when I'm sitting there at a meeting with a lot of people, a lot of other mayors, people from other areas, business owners looking to relocate in this area, and you hear the negative stuff. Tell me one negative thing that happened other than what happened in the last administration. You'd be hard pressed to find something. My whole vision is to put things in motion is to be beneficial for my grandchildren, your children, my neighbor's children and my friends' children. A lot of things need to be put in motion for the next generation that is coming up.”
City clerk Gloria Rogers, who also attends church with Thompson and who has known him all her life, said she's always known him to be fair-minded, honest and helpful to others.
“He's even-tempered, not easily excited,” she said. “If something happens, he's the type to say, ‘Things will work out.'”
Union businessman Oscar Gist said Thompson is a man who can take on a lot of responsibility and others look to him as a leader, including his fellow church members who turned to him when St. Luke's burned.
Gist said he has known Thompson since Thompson was in high school and he was a good student who has turned into a good man. He pointed out that Thompson has been a leader in both the Masons (worshipful master) and the Shriners (potentate). He said Thompson worked with others to help bring the Food Stamp program to Union many years ago.
“He's not one to let bitterness stand in the way of doing what is right,” Gist said.
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