E.W. "Ned" Thompson coached Pasadena High School's boys' basketball team to the state championship in 1946, the only one in district history. During his two-year tenure, his teams won district titles in every boys' sport. Thompson later became the first baseball coach at the University of Houston and a longtime associate athletic director. He was inducted into the Pasadena ISD Athletics Hall of Fame in 2012 and passed away in 2011 at the age of 101.