Larry Donnell Thompson (October 27, 1958 – September 17, 2024) was an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player who was a

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...

for the Baltimore/Indianapolis Colts of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). Thompson played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

North Carolina Tar Heels The North Carolina Tar Heels (also Carolina Tar Heels) are the college sports in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The name Tar Heel is a nickname used to refer to ...

. After leaving the NFL, Thompson became a franchisee for

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese ch ...

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

. He purchased his own franchise in 1998 and later opened franchises for

Choice Hotels International Choice Hotels International, Inc. is an American multinational hospitality industry, hospitality company based in North Bethesda, Maryland. The company, which is one of the largest hotel chains in the world, owns various hotel brands ranging fro ...

, Zaxby's,

Denny's Denny's (also known as Denny's Diner on some locations' signage) is an American table service diner-style restaurant chain. It operates over 1,400 Restaurant, restaurants in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and several other internationa ...

and Checkers Drive-In, sometimes in partnership with his former roommate Ron Wooten. Thompson died on September 17, 2024, at the age of 65.

References

External links

* 1958 births 2024 deaths Sportspeople from Lumberton, North Carolina Players of American football from North Carolina American football defensive ends North Carolina Tar Heels football players Baltimore Colts players Indianapolis Colts players 20th-century American sportsmen {{defensive-lineman-1950s-stub