Thompson Gets All-Star Chance : Preps: Bassett High standout is shunned by Shrine Game, but will show his stuff in Hall of Fame Game.

From the first day of football practice last year, Marshawn Thompson was focused on playing in the Shrine All-Star Football Game.

By season’s end, Thompson had more than 2,000 reasons to feel he’d get a bid.

He finished his senior year at Bassett High in La Puente as the leading rusher in the state with 2,294 yards and 30 touchdowns in 379 carries, one of the highest single-season yardage and touchdown totals in CIF Southern Section history.

But all that it got him was a nomination for the South team in January along with 119 other players. And when the 32-player squad was announced in early March, Thompson’s name was not on the list.

“I can’t understand how a guy who rushed for 2,300 yards and 30 touchdowns and led the state in rushing cannot make the Shrine Game,” Thompson said. “Maybe they didn’t think I was good enough for some reason or maybe it was because I’m from Bassett. I don’t know why they didn’t pick me. I just can’t understand it.”

Bassett has never had a player selected for the Shrine Game.

Thompson was listed as an alternate and that didn’t set well with him.

“They announced the team and I wasn’t on it and then when they sent me the alternate papers it really hurt,” he said. . . . “I just threw them out. That was it for me. I didn’t want to be an alternate.”

Local fans will still get a chance to see Thompson in action. He received and accepted an invitation to play in the 11th annual Hall of Fame Game.

The game, at 8 p.m. Friday at Citrus College in Glendora, will feature many of the top players in the San Gabriel Valley. The East team, which includes Thompson, also features offensive tackle Norberto Garrido of Workman, quarterback J. J. O’Laughlin of Glendora, fullback Marcus Green of Northview and defensive tackle Mike Collins of Los Altos. The West is headed by Muir standouts Reggie Hunt at nose guard, Paul Joiner at linebacker and defensive backs Sam Williford and Stephan Crutchfield.

It is the second all-star game of the summer for the 6-foot-1, 200-pound Thompson, who also competed in the California vs. Oklahoma All-Star Game in June in Honolulu. The California team, which won, 35-26, consisted primarily of Valley players including 10 who will play Friday.

Thompson, who runs the 40-yard dash in 4.5 seconds, did not carry the ball as much as usual in the game but still enjoyed the Hawaiian experience.

“It was a great experience,” he said. “It was my first trip to Hawaii and it was a lot of fun. We had Richard Robles (of Baldwin Park High) as our quarterback and we passed the ball a lot. I didn’t get the ball much but it was fun just watching them throw.”

Thompson insists he is not out to prove anything to the people who selected the Shrine team.

“I’m not using the game to prove that I should’ve been in the Shrine Game,” he said. “I’m just going out to have fun and play a good game.”

Thompson said there are other players on his East squad who could play in the Shrine Game.

“There are a lot of guys on this Hall of Fame team that I think can play in the Shrine Game and they got passed up, too,” he said. “I can think of at least eight.”

For that matter, he adds, there are a lot of players who went on to outstanding college or pro careers after being passed up for the Shrine Game. He mentioned

former Muir running back Ricky Ervins, who stars for USC and will be honorary chairman of the Hall of Fame Game.

Thompson said participating in the Hall of Fame Game has helped ease the pain of not being selected to the Shrine Game.

“It’s still hard to get out of my mind but playing with the talent in this Hall of Fame Game is real helpful,” he said.

For Thompson, being passed up for the Shrine Game was not the only disappointment he has faced since the end of last season.

With his success over the past two years, Thompson had been regarded as one of the top college prospects in the Valley.

But then he barely missed reaching the minimum score of 700 on the Scholastic Aptitude Test and fell short twice, by two and three points, on the American College Test entrance examinations. That would have left him ineligible, under the NCAA’s Proposition 48 guidelines, to play for a Division I program as a freshman.

Before colleges learned about his test results, Thompson had been recruited by Division I schools such as USC and Colorado. Even after his test difficulties emerged, Thompson was still being recruited by Fresno State and Oregon--two Division I bowl teams from last season.

In the end, Utah was the only school willing to offer him a scholarship whether or not he passed his entrance exam but Thompson admits he wasn’t excited about the prospect of playing for the Utes. So, instead of attending Utah and having to sit out a season, he has opted to play at Pasadena City College for two seasons.

“Utah offered me a scholarship but I’d have to sit out a year and I didn’t want to do that,” he said. “I just decided it was better for me to go to a JC and I decided it would be Pasadena City College. I’ll go to Pasadena City College and then go somewhere else.”

In fact, Thompson is already on the way toward reaching his goal of graduating from PCC six months early and then transferring to a top four-year program. He has been taking summer school classes at the school.

“I’ll have to wait 1 1/2 years longer but it’s what I have to do,” Thompson said. “I didn’t want to accept it at first but now I know I will just have to wait a little longer to get where I want.”

Nor did Thompson want to accept the fact that he wasn’t selected to the Shrine team. But he says he has learned to remain upbeat despite his disappointments.

“I’ve never gotten down or anything like that,” he said. “I always thought that you don’t get anything for free in life, anyway. Now I just have to work a little harder and take it from there.”