ST. PETERSBURG ― Bill Thornton points to the east corner of the McArthur Center from his courtside scorer’s table seat at a recent Eckerd College basketball game. A couple rows up in the bleachers, he explains, is where he used to sit and watch his younger brother, Tim, play basketball for the Tritons.
The year was 1970. Tim was a freshman. The school was still called Florida Presbyterian. He figures he watched a few games from that spot before his view changed forever.
“I always kept a notebook with me and I kept stats," Thornton said. “By about the third game (men’s) coach (Jim) Harley came over and said that he always has a hard time finding someone to keep stats. Did I want to keep stats? I said I would try it. Been doing it every year since."
Thornton, who turned 75 on Feb. 8, has seen thousands of men’s and women’s basketball games on the tiny south St. Petersburg campus. Add in the volleyball, baseball and softball duties he took on later, and the total likely reaches 10,000.
He was there when the Tritons played their first ever Sunshine State Conference game against Florida Southern. He has seen hundreds of men’s and women’s players come through the Eckerd College program.
He remembers former men’s head coach and current athletic director Tom Ryan when he was a player at the school. Ryan, currently in his first year as the school’s athletic director, has spent 37 years at Eckerd as a player, assistant or head coach of the basketball team.
“Hard to believe that he’s been here longer than I have," Ryan said. “He knows just about every player who ever went here. It’s amazing."
Thornton also remembers current men’s coach Bryan Galuski and women’s coach Paul Honsinger in their playing days with the Tritons. There aren’t many players he doesn’t remember.
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This season marks the 50th year that Thornton has kept the books for Eckerd College basketball. He started on the bench as the official statistician before moving to scorekeeper about 20 years ago. In 1982 he added women’s basketball to his resume. In 1988, he became the scorekeeper for the volleyball team.
There was a time when he helped with the spring sports as well but he stopped doing outdoor sports 20 years ago.
“That got to be too much," he said.
Aside from the Florida heat, not much has slowed Thornton down. He was born with cerebral palsy and has used crutches to walk his entire life. He graduated from Nina Harris School in Pinellas Park in 1964 and attended St. Petersburg Junior College for two years. He worked in insurance until 1988. When his employer left for Georgia, Thornton took a job as office manager at Eckerd College.
He has held several different positions at the school, both in athletics and in the student payroll department. He retired in 2015, but couldn’t stay away from the school all together.
“This gets me out of the house," said Thornton, who lives in the Woodlawn area of St. Petersburg. He likes to point out that he can make the commute home after a game in eight minutes with no stop lights.
He was able to stay involved in athletics through his brother. Tim played basketball, baseball and tennis for the Tritons. Tim moved to Japan after graduation in 1974 and never returned to the United States. Both Tim and Bill are members of the Eckerd College athletic Hall of Fame.
“Deservedly so," Honsinger said. “I think I’ve been here a long time and I’m in my 14th year (as women’s head coach). And then I start thinking about Bill and he’s been here 36 years longer than me. How many games has he seen? He’s just a walking encyclopedia of everything Eckerd athletics.
“He’s Eckerd through and through."
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Between bites of his soft taco while waiting for the men’s game to start, Thornton talks about his years at the school. Not much has changed at the McArthur Center since he arrived, although renovations are planned for next year.
And not much has changed with Thornton. He doesn’t keep the books for the money. He doesn’t get paid at all for volleyball games and gets $30 per game for women’s and men’s basketball.
He does it because he can’t imagine not doing it. He estimates he has missed maybe eight basketball games total over the five decades.
He doesn’t plan on missing any in the years to come.
“I’ll do this for as long as they want me to," Thornton said. “As long as I’m healthy, and I am, then I’ll be here."
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If you’re keeping score, 50 years and counting for Eckerd’s Bill Thornton - Tampa Bay Times
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