Local softball coach focuses on returning to team following heart surgery

For nearly a decade, James Thompson has been a fixture on softball fields throughout Tallahassee and beyond, helping provide opportunities for young female athletes whose families otherwise might not be able to afford travel softball.

Now the longtime coach and co-founder of a popular and successful nonprofit travel softball organization – Capital City Diamonds Softball – is facing the biggest challenge of his life.

Thompson underwent successful triple bypass surgery Tuesday, July 20, at a local hospital after suffering a heart attack and doctors discovered two severe blockages — one 100% blocked artery and another 95% blocked artery.

“It’s a lot to process over the last couple days,” Thompson said prior to surgery, adding with a laugh. “There’s never a good time to be sick.”

Thompson, a 6-foot-3, 240-pound former Leon High School athlete and Hall of Fame member, said he initially dismissed chest pain that had surfaced during recent softball tournaments. Looking back, he believes years of poor eating habits while constantly traveling for softball caught up with him.

“When you’re a coach, your diet sucks,” Thompson said. “Over the years, it’s just caught up with me.”

Doctors told Thompson his arteries were otherwise healthy and attributed much of the problem to diet and weight gain accumulated over years spent on softball fields rather than taking care of himself.

The diagnosis came as a shock to family and friends who viewed him as active and healthy.

“They’ve done every test there is on him, and they’re like, ‘We’re just going to put a little stent in and you’ll be good to go,'” said his wife, Amanda Thompson. “Then 30 minutes later, they came out and said he had a 100% blockage and a 95% blockage.

“The next thing we knew, they were scheduling open-heart surgery.”

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Building opportunities through softball

The Capital City Diamonds Softball organization provides opportunities for athletes to play travel softball.

Thompson’s impact extends far beyond wins and losses.

A former Leon football player who later attended Temple University on a football scholarship, Thompson returned to Tallahassee and eventually launched a travel softball organization in 2016 after recognizing both his daughter’s talent and the financial barriers many local families faced.

What started as a single team has grown into a nonprofit organization with roughly 60 players spread across multiple age groups.

“We saw how expensive travel softball was,” Amanda Thompson said. “Everything we’ve done has been through fundraising.”

The organization charges little or nothing for many families, relying instead on fundraising efforts, sponsorships and concession work at Florida State athletic events and at the Donald L. Tucker Civic Center.

Many of the players come from single-parent households or financially struggling families.

“The majority of our kids are financially disenfranchised,” James Thompson said. “We’ve got a lot of single moms. Travel softball is one of the most expensive sports out there.”

Over the years, Thompson and his organization have taken players across the country to compete in major tournaments, including Oklahoma City, where young athletes attended the Women’s College World Series and saw firsthand what they could one day achieve on the sport’s biggest stage.

“We go to Puerto Rico almost every Thanksgiving,” Thompson said. “I take them to the College World Series so one day they can see themselves out there. It’s about building memories and giving them opportunities they probably wouldn’t have had.”

Softball organization reflects success stories

St. John Paul II Catholic School 2026 Valedictorian: Amanda Thompson

The program’s impact can be measured by the athletes who have advanced to the next level.

Among them is Thompson’s daughter, Amanda Thompson, who recently committed to play softball at Harvard. The JPII Catholic School star was named Big Bend Softball Player of the Year and was the senior class valedictorian

Her older brother, Julian Thompson, plays football at Alabama A&M.

Last year marked the organization’s first senior class, and all but one player went on to commit to play college softball.

“Everyone was asking if the organization was going to stop once Amanda graduated,” Amanda Thompson said. “And James said, ‘There’s no way.’ He has so many players he’s watched grow up through the years that he wants to see them graduate and, if they want to, play in college.”

Community rallies around softball coach, offers support

As news of Thompson’s condition spread across social media and throughout the local softball community, support poured in.

Friends, parents and former players rallied around the family, creating a Meal Train page where supporters can donate restaurant gift cards, provide home-cooked meals or contribute in other ways as Thompson begins his recovery.

“It’s good to know,” Thompson said. “You give and give and give so much of your time, your energy and your finances, and you don’t always know. A lot of times we’re carrying kids whose parents can’t afford to travel or are working. We assume a lot of that burden.”

The support has been especially meaningful as the family prepares for the challenges ahead. Thompson is expected to face rehabilitation and recovery, potentially limiting the fundraising efforts that help sustain the organization.

Still, neither Thompson nor his wife expects the mission to change.

“We do this for the girls,” Amanda Thompson said. “A lot of our families cannot afford travel ball. You’re paying $3,000 or $4,000 a season on some teams. We’ve worked every concession stand imaginable to make sure these girls have opportunities.”

From his hospital room, Thompson was already thinking about getting back to the softball field.

“If I do what they ask me to do and rehab the right way,” he said, “hopefully I can get out of there sooner and get back to my girls.”

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Local softball coach focuses on returning to team following heart surgery

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