Red River High athlete Timothy Thomas has been invited to paradise.  America’s paradise!  Hawaii.  He will play football there.  For a youth from a small town that really is a big deal.  Thomas is the starting Center on the Bulldogs Football team.

The announcement Thomas received said, “Congratulations, you have been selected to play in the Hawaii Tiki Bowl on December 3-January 4, 2021.”  His jaw dropped.  Thomas said, “My first reaction when I received the invitation was, wow I didn’t believe it at first, I was thinking they sent the invite to the wrong person I was just shocked and excited.”

The Journal asked Thomas how did he hear about the event.  He said, “I came to know about this event via twitter when another person shared the event. I first applied after I saw a tweet from them saying they would be evaluating all film sent to them, so I sent all the film I had from this past season via twitter and about 7 hours later they sent me a reply making sure of who I was and after I confirmed it was me they sent me the invitation.”

The excitement spread throughout the family.  His mother, Adaire Lee Thomas said, “So proud of our son Timothy. He’s had to endure so much, and he’s worked so hard.”

Right after Christmas young Thomas will be heading to Hawaii.  “The part I am looking forward to the most is the experience, atmosphere and exposure,”  Thomas added,  “Also getting to go to Hawaii and playing in the University of Hawaii’s stadium on Aloha field.”

Asked how it would help him, Thomas said, “This event will teach me a lot about football and help me tremendously with exposure to colleges and building relationships with college coaches and will help me continue my football career. It will also teach me many life lessons.”

A grateful Timothy Thomas said he had a great many to thank.  “This would not have been possible without GOD after all I have been through these past few years I just want to thank him first.”  Thomas added, “I also wanna thank my family for being there by my side. Lastly I wanna thank Coach Bachman, Coach Harkins and Coach Bagley for always pushing me and making me be a better football player and pushing me in the weight room and I cannot leave out coach Roddrell Stewart another coach whose helped me with my footwork and lineman training and also Coach Chris Rubio from Rubio long snapping on helping and showing me how to be a great long snapper. I am just blessed and humbled to have earned this opportunity.”

You can see Thomas at Center this fall when you come to the Bulldogs home games played in their brand new stadium.