Sport: Football and Basketball

Grade: Junior

“If Jarvis is on your team you are not going to lose,” senior Jack Quinn said.

Jarvis Thomas can been seen walking the halls of Orono towering at 6’5 above the student population. Thomas’ iconic blond tips and athletic build have been know to joke with fellow students and grace both the football field and the basketball court.

In sixth grade Thomas began his football career as a lineman. This year Thomas proved vital to the Orono team’s postseason, beginning on the team for the last regular season game. Of the four games he played as a wide receiver, he scored four touchdowns, averaging of one per game. His impressive record of 18 catches and 463 yards in only four games speaks for itself as far as his skill.

When it came time for game day, like any serious athlete Thomas had his own gameday rituals, “For football I used to wear my bucket hat, my old shades and my red patagonia. I also have a lucky pair of underwear I wear for basketball,” Thomas said.

The gameday apparel seemed to pay off when the football team won the section final game leading them to their spot in the state tournament.

“The section championship game was definitely a highlight, that was awesome,” Thomas said about the football season. Looking to next year, Thomas hopes to lead the state in receiving yard and break a receiving yards record for Orono.

The winter season is now in full swing and the Orono boys basketball team is 10-1, currently on a nine game winning streak. Thomas began his basketball career in eighth grade as a center on the B-team after being cut in seventh grade when he first tried out. In high school, Thomas has soared past those first games on a middle school B team.

“He brings a really good attitude and presence, defensively he is very athletic, he is 6’5 and he blocks a lot of shots. Then offensively he is very fast and gets a lot of fast breaks. He gives up an inside presence that really toughness us up and gives opportunity because we have a lot of great shooters,” basketball Coach Barry Wohler said.

Coming to Orono at the end of his sophomore year after attending five different schools, Thomas didn’t miss a beat getting to know his teammates.

“It helped that he transferred last spring and got to know the guys, and he has played some basketball with some of the guys over the summer,” Wohler said.

Looking forward to the rest of the season the boys will play regular games until sections begin in March after their final regular season game.
Outside of Orono basketball Thomas plays for the club team, Howard Pulley’s Nike UIBL team, an elite basketball team that is sponsored by Nike. Already being scouted by many Division 1 basketball programs, when asked where he sees himself after college Thomas responded, “the NBA.”