Thomson ready to join Colgate University
Hulking Kitchener star third sibling from his family to secure an NCAA athletic scholarship
Growing up, Dave Thomson was all about basketball.
He followed older siblings — sister Julianna and brother Sam — to courts around Waterloo Region and looked primed to follow in their footsteps.
But things changed in Grade 7. “I realized I was a bigger kid,” he said.
Others noticed too.
A family friend suggested Thomson join the Twin Cities Predators football program and pigskin quickly became his priority.
“I quit basketball the next year,” said the 19-year-old Kitchener native.
And it has been football ever since. Thomson, who attended Laurentian Hills Christian School from kindergarten to Grade 8, played with the Predators and Cambridge Lions before venturing out of town.
He spent a year in Mississauga at Clarkson Secondary School’s Football North program, which caters to gridiron hopefuls and plays its games in the United States.
From there, he transferred to Brooks School, a private outfit near Boston, so he could gain more exposure while also receiving a good education.
And the moves paid off. Thomson caught the eye of Colgate University in upstate New York and is off to play for the Raiders on a football scholarship this fall.
“Hours of working on my own, in the field and in the weight room all paid off when I signed that piece of paper (to commit to Colgate),” he said.
“It just felt like the right fit for me from coaching to facilities to education.”
There will be a familiar face on campus too.
His brother, Sam, who attended Breslau’s Woodland Christian High School, is a junior forward on the men’s basketball team.
In fact, Thomson is the third member of his family to head south on a sports scholarship. His sister, Julianna, played Division 1 basketball at Dartmouth before switching to track and field while later competing and completing her MBA at Villanova. The discus thrower is now off to George Mason University to start her PhD in political science.
“We started sports at a young age,” said Thomson, who now calls Otterville home. “I always wanted to be better at basketball than my brother. I never was, but we all pushed each other and it’s part of the reason we’re at where we are now.”
Thomson started at tight end but moved to the offensive line after he shot up nine inches and gained about 100 pounds during his growth spurt. Colgate is looking to the six-foot-five, 310-pound lineman to fill in at right guard.
“Dave is a great addition to our offensive line,” Raiders skipper Stan Dakosty said in news release. “He comes to us with a blue-collar work ethic that our program prides itself on. His physicality and toughness fall in line with the core values of our offensive line.”
Like any collegiate football athlete, Thomson has dreams of making it to the NFL, but concedes that playing in the Canadian Football League would be a “fun route” too. Though undeclared at the moment, he’s leaning toward a major in education since he likes teaching, coaching and the private school environment.
For now, he’s focused on Colgate. Off-field workouts begin next month, practices run in August and the team’s first game is Sept. 3 against Stanford.
“I think it’s the ultimate team sport,” he said, of his love for the game. “Every guy relies on the next one. That’s what puts together a winning team.”