LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – A Lubbock man has a new air conditioning system in his home through the teamwork of two Lubbock companies recognizing his years of work developing the Texas Tech rodeo team.
Charles Thompson is a lifelong Lubbock resident, a Texas Tech graduate and a central figure in developing the TTU rodeo team.
Nomination through ‘Feel the Love’ program
Roy Jones nominated Thompson for Armstrong Electric and Lennox’s “Feel the Love” program. Jones learned from Thompson decades ago.
“Charlie’s kind of a legend around here. He’s actually in the Texas Hall of Fame as well. And works extremely hard to keep his profile up with the C-Bar-T brand and his rodeo history. And when I heard Charlie’s accident, that stopped his progress,” Jones said.
Chris Carpenter, President and CEO of Armstrong Plumbing, Air, and Electric says, “We’re a Lubbock company and we’ve been here for 92 years. And we just want to give back to the community. And we want to help those that have helped others in the past and now it’s our turn to help them.”
Ranching accident
Thompson suffered a ranching accident. He was trapped for nearly four hours, pinned between a tractor and a bale of hay with a broken neck. He crawled to his truck and drove himself to get help.
“I mean, trying to move forward, take care of a job, take care of 80 plus horses and then deal with injury. I mean, any of us, no matter who we are or what our age, that’s a big setback. We’ve been taking care of Charlie’s AC system for a long time and it was a great fix,” Jones said.
A broken AC system was another problem on Thompson’s plate, but he is now walking again.
Thompson said he is humbled by the honor to receive a new system in his home.
“Oh, Lubbock is just a great community. They have supported me in my business since 1970…for almost 40 years, we had a rodeo here in Lubbock every Saturday. Either out at the Livestock Pavilion or out at our place on the Ivory Highway. We were just very fortunate to have Lubbock as our home base,” Thompson said.
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