Vestavia’s Walter Thomas honors father’s memory

Walter Thomas couldn’t believe he was there, standing on the highest step of the podium with a gold medal draped around his neck. 

“Not a chance,” he said. 

Yet there he was, the newest king of Alabama high school shot put. Just a little while before, Thomas had conquered the Class 7A field. His deep, arcing throw of 59 feet, one-half inch had shattered the previous state-meet record by more than eight feet.

“It was just crazy,” Thomas said of last May’s first-place feat. “I was stunned.”

But it was a welcome shock, the kind Thomas had dreamed about. A year before — after he placed third at the 2015 state outdoor track and field meet — he told himself he wanted to be in this coveted position. A state title was what he’d been working toward. He just didn’t expect it to happen as soon it did. 

“After sophomore year, I was like, ‘Man, I’m going to be a state champ one day,’” Thomas said. “And surely the next year, I was a state champ.”

The stunning suddenness of reality has become one of the overarching thematic concepts in  Thomas’ life story. Things can happen quickly and unexpectedly — both good and bad. 

Thomas, a 17-year-old Vestavia Hills High School senior, knows this better than most. That’s because he never imagined he would be here, sitting in an empty classroom next to his school’s blue track discussing the indescribable heartbreak engendered by the passing of a parent. 

Feb. 24 marked the one-year anniversary of the death of Walter Thomas’ father, Robert Thomas Jr., who worked at the Vestavia Country Club for 27 years. He died at age 50, only five months after being diagnosed with multiple myeloma bone cancer.

“It’s fast acting; it metastasizes,” said Alicia Thomas, Walter’s mother, of the cancer.

Robert Thomas’ diagnosis and subsequent physical demise blindsided Walter and his family, which also includes his two older siblings. His sister, Tiffanie, graduated from Vestavia in 2003 as one of the top scorers in the history of the girls basketball program. His brother, Robert III, graduated in 2013 as a letterman in three sports. 

Walter Thomas said he and his family leaned on each other for stability in their time of need. Alicia Thomas, a 1984 Vestavia graduate, said the community acted as their foundation of support. 

Never was that more evident, she said, than when members of the Vestavia community packed out the gymnasium at Greater Shiloh Baptist Church for Robert Thomas’ funeral. 

“It was amazing. I didn’t know we had that many friends, that many people who loved us,” Alicia Thomas said, the sound of tears audible in her voice. “It was amazing how they helped us out. I get emotional.”

Admittedly, Walter Thomas said he struggled in the aftermath of his father’s passing.  Coaches said they saw him retract silently in grief. He said he tried to internalize things too much on his own.

“You can’t do it alone,” he said. “I figured that out the hard way.”

Shot put became his outlet — choir, too. Nicknamed Big Walt for his 6-foot-3, 360-pound frame, Walter Thomas sings in three choirs at school. A couple of months ago, he crooned the theme song to “Frozen” at a holiday concert — solo. 

“He is something else,” Alicia Thomas said. “When he sets his mind to do something, he’s going to see it all the way through. I could not believe he was that good, but he knocked it out of the park.”

Walter Thomas, quite literally, started doing the same thing last spring at track practice. Vestavia head track and field coach Brett Huber said he knew his star thrower was on the brink of a major breakthrough when his heaves reached the end of the school’s shot put area, which is about 60 feet long. 

“I think he realized he had a real talent with it,” Huber said.

Walter Thomas improved continually during the 2016 outdoor season, even as his father’s absence weighed heavily on his heart. He lost only once. 

Huber said Walter Thomas’ desire to be the best, regardless of the competition, helped spark his success in the shot put ring. He just doesn’t want to beat guys, Huber said; he wants to outperform them. 

“That really drives him,” Huber said. “He wants to have the best performance.”

Another trait Huber pinpointed as a trigger for Walter Thomas’ growth is his phenomenal strength. Walter Thomas said he places an emphasis on developing explosiveness rather than muscle mass because of its necessity in his event. He can power clean 275 pounds. 

“Walter has as much explosion out of his hips as anybody I’ve ever had,” said his football coach, Buddy Anderson. “He did a good job for us.”

Anderson, who has been at Vestavia since the 1970s, shares a special connection to the Thomas family. He taught Alicia Thomas in a math class when she attended the high school, and he’s coached both of her boys. 

Anderson also happened to be at the hospital with the family the night that Robert Thomas died. The veteran coach said he tried to speak words of comfort and encouragement to Walter Thomas and his grieving family, telling them that he felt confident Robert Thomas “was very proud of all of his children.”

Walter Thomas made him even prouder. 

Channeling his pain into his throws, Walter Thomas used shot put as a way to honor his father. Every time he stepped into the ring last spring, Robert Thomas was on his mind. 

“Without a doubt,” Walter Thomas said. “I knew that if he was here, I knew what he would have wanted me to do. He would have been at every meet, wanting me to compete and PR every single meet just like I wanted for myself. I just had to go out there and make him proud.”

Walter Thomas brought that mentality with him to Gulf Shores for the 2016 state outdoor meet. Ultimately, it carried him to the title — and more. 

According to Huber, his winning mark of 59-½ was one of the top five throws in Alabama high school history. 

“He walked into it with humility,” Huber said. “But then on his first throw, he knew he was on, and it was there.”

Alicia Thomas and Robert Thomas III were both in attendance to witness Walter Thomas’ championship moment. The first thing his mother did after he walked off the track was wrap him up in a hug. 

“He wouldn’t stop smiling,” she said.

The only thing that would have made the triumph sweeter was if Robert Thomas had been there to celebrate with them. Walter Thomas told his mother he wished his father had been there to see his victory. 

Alicia Thomas, in response, whispered a simple reminder: “He is here,” she told him. “He’s just in a different form.”

The tears began to flow, at least for Alicia Thomas. Walter Thomas said he didn’t cry. His mother remembers otherwise. 

Even though her son tried to hold them back, she said she saw “little tears in his eyes.”

“He had some,” she said. “He had some.”

Minutes later, Walter took his place on the podium to receive his state medal. It wouldn’t be the last. On Feb. 4, he captured a second-place finish at the 2017 state indoor track and field meet. He fell to Auburn’s Erik Ebel by three feet.

“I mean, we’re just going to come back for outdoor,” Walter Thomas said afterward. “It didn’t go how I wanted it to. I’ll fix it. I’ll work on it.”

Keep an eye on him this spring. History has illustrated that when he puts his mind to something, he’ll see it to completion — for himself and for his father.