From The Breeze to The Champion - Josh Thompson
By Aaron Rogers
When I met Josh Thompson at one of the Chaffey College football games, I recognized him from his time covering local high school football games. After seeing him work for a few minutes, I could see the passion and dedication he has for sports journalism and photography.
“I love every day of this job, there is not a day that I regret coming to work,” Thompson said. “I have always wanted a fun job and I would ask myself how I can keep this job. By working hard every single day - not holding back - it is going out there and doing it."
Since the age of four, he remembers watching the news and reading newspaper clippings. He was always intrigued by the art involved in the newspaper, and the ability to pick up the paper the next day to see the local news.
While growing up in Southern California, Thompson became a huge sports fan by going to Dodgers, Angels and Lakers games. The idea of reading about the games the next day in the paper fueled his love for journalism and he knew that this is what he wanted to do.
Josh was born in La Mesa, Calif. and moved to Ontario, Calif. at the age of four. After school, he would rush home to watch the news to see what was happening around his area. When he was not watching the news, he was watching cartoons.
He was enamored by the art of the cartoon shows. Watching them fed into his love for photography because he knew that he could not draw. Photography became the way for him to express his artistic ways.
While playing little league and youth basketball he would always photograph and capture every moment with his brother. Growing up, they were very competitive as they both played multiple sports all throughout high school.
His journey through journalism did not start until he got to college. He started off at Mt. San Antonio College (Mt. Sac), where he and his good friend wanted to do something in the journalism field. While attending, they reached out to the radio station KSAK, the news station where he would cover sports live on the radio. Soon after that Thompson got into writing at Mt. Sac.
While attending Mt. Sac, he also met his wife, who was at Riverside City College (RCC.) After a year and half, he transferred to RCC for television. While at RCC, he also attended Chaffey College for writing journalism. There, he covered sports for The Breeze.
When he eventually got a job at the Chino Champion, he was hired on as the sports writer. Soon after, the position for crime reporter opened up. He knew instantly that he wanted both, despite being recently hired. Twenty-six years later, he is still doing both.
When he is not working for the Champion, Thompson has been shooting photography for MaxPreps, America's leading digital platform for high school sports, since 2004.
“My advice is learn the craft and learn how to do it the right way,” Thompson advised. “It takes a lot of effort to do this because we cover a lot of things while being quick enough to meet deadlines. Make sure you pay attention and be a hundred percent correct.”