KJ Thomas is making the most of being home for a portion of the summer following his first full season playing basketball at the University of Texas at El Paso.
While getting a break from a very demanding college schedule at UTEP, Thomas is paying it forward by mentoring young athletes across the Texas Panhandle hosting his summer shooting camp that was hosted in a very familiar place of Dimmitt on Monday and Tuesday.
Thomas has dedicated his time to learning what he learned and that’s the game of basketball by building confidence, getting shots up, fundamentals and learning defense during the two-day camp for boys and girls.
“My dad and my uncles played here in Dimmitt,” Thomas said. “So, I thought this would be a great place to host a shooting camp. There is a lot of tradition here. I think what inspired me to do these camps is to give back to a game that molded me. I’m also doing this for coach (Leslie) Broadhurst. I miss him so much and he did a ton for me along the way. Running these camps means a lot to me. Being able to do it in the Amarillo-area is special. This community helped me get to where I’m at, so I’ll do anything to help give back.”
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Randall head coach Trevor Johnson was an assistant but played a key role in Thomas’ career. Johnson is still extremely close with Thomas and extremely happy to see the mentor he is becoming.
“KJ is a special young man,” Johnson said. “He is one of those guys that always thinks of others first. He had a lot of older guys show him the way, so he feels like this is his obligation to give back to the younger kids of the Texas Panhandle. We miss his shooting his shooting in our gym for sure but hopefully he’ll get a bigger role at UTEP over the next few years. KJ has tireless work ethic knows what he is doing. It’s awesome to see him pass on that knowledge to the younger generation.”
Thomas is best known for his prolific career as one of the best to ever wear a Randall Raider uniform. Thomas led Randall to back-to-back UIL Class 4A state tournament appearances while leaving the program as the all-time leading scoring pouring in 2,592 career points and is also the school’s all-time assist leader with 583.
His game is now transitioning to the college level where he just ended his freshman year at UTEP playing in 28 games for the Minors off the bench.
“There was definitely a lot of ups and downs this first year at UTEP, but it was a big learning experience,” Thomas said. “It was very valuable no matter how you look at it and I’m looking forward to where I’m headed in the program. I grew a lot defensively. They take huge pride on defense, and I’ve gotten so much better on that side of the ball. I’m very excited there is going to be a lot of opportunity.”
Thomas is set to host a second shooting camp in honor of the late legendary Randall head coach Leslie Broadhurst on Aug 9-10 at the Leslie Broadhurst Gymnasium at Randall.