Elco's Dom Thornton lost his father two years ago. Football helps to still connect them.
It’s never easy to lose a parent, but even less so when you’re a teenager.
Dom Thornton has a great support system at home, do-everything mother Erin, 13-year-old sister Cadynce and 10-year-old brother Owen. But Thornton is also a member of a larger, extended family, the Elco football family.
A junior, Dom just finished his first year as Elco's starting quarterback. He lost his dad Nick Thornton, suddenly, 30 months ago to cardiac arrest. He was 37.
Just like his immediate family, the Raiders provide Thornton with support. But they’re also there to provide a different perspective, fellowship, a variety of male role models – and sometimes simply a distraction.
“In a way, sort of,” said Thornton, to the suggestion that some members of his Elco family could serve as father figures. “There’s a part of me that doesn’t have this person in my life anymore. My dad talked about some of the same things that Coach (Bob Miller) does. My dad was still friends with his teammates after high school. He instilled that into me the way Coach has.”
The signal-caller for the Raiders’ run-first attack, Thornton didn't throw the ball 60 times this season. His role is to hand off, limited the mistakes and manage the game – not unlike the way he manages his life without a father.
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“This (locker room) has become sort of like their home,” said Elco head coach Bob Miller, of Thornton and his teammates. “It does provide that brotherhood. Dom doesn’t have a void to fill because he has a good family at home. I think this is something where, sports-wise, the football locker room is his home, his family, his brotherhood, his connection. His dad was incredibly into sports, and I think football was one of his loves, his passions. I think it does make that connection with Dom.”
The date was February 10, 2019. Dom was there that day when his father died at home.
“I didn’t know what to think,” Dom said. “It was confusing. I thought right away, ‘He’s going to be OK.’ Then when he wasn’t, it hit me. It was like a shock.”
Through his father’s influence, Dom is a three-sport athlete at Elco. Nick Thornton was also Dom’s youth coach, as well as his biggest supporter, and it is when Dom is playing sports that he now feels closest to his dad.
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“He definitely has a huge impact on me when I’m playing sports,” Dom said. “I can definitely feel he’s always watching me. I still have connections with him all the time. I’ll go to where he’s laying, and we’ll talk the way we did. He’s still a large part of my life, even though he’s not in my life.”
Thornton seems poised for his age, but he hasn’t lost his youthful exuberance or playfulness – nor that twinkle in his eye.
“I think he always has his dad in his mind when he competes, that he always wants to do his best beyond statistics,” Miller said. “He certainly has a mature presence he’s developed, like he wants to live his life to the fullest. I think as a kid, he grew up early. I think it goes back to a situation where he had to be a strong leader for his family to lean on after his father passed away.”
This article originally appeared on Lebanon Daily News: Elco Raiders: Junior quarterback connects with father through football
