For the long haul: Panthers vet building future as trucking company CEO
CHARLOTTE, NC (WSOC) — Shaq Thompson has spent much of his life as part of a team.
The veteran linebacker is coming off his ninth professional season, all with the Carolina Panthers, after being selected in the first round of the NFL Draft in 2015.
But it’s the team Thompson is building now with trucking company Good Run Logistics, which he hopes will sustain his family well beyond his playing career.
Thompson is the CEO of Good Run Logistics.
“Everybody says, ‘Oh, athletes go broke when they’re done with football,’” he said. “I didn’t want to be one of those guys who ends up going broke trying to live a lifestyle that I can’t keep up anymore.”
Thompson’s Good Run Logistics is an over-the-road trucking company with runs spanning 48 states. He said his initial interest in the industry was inspired by former teammates Kyle Love and Woodrow Hamilton.
The three would often speak on the phone with Love and Hamilton sharing what they learned as they were getting their start in the trucking industry.
Within a year, Thompson said he was ready to establish his own company and team after being introduced to eventual business partners — Shaquille Dixon and Samuel Murphy — both of whom had previous experience running a heavy-haul trucking company.
Ironically, their initial conversation had nothing to do with the industry.
“We were in the same gym and had the same personal trainer,” said Shaquille Dixon, the Good Run general manager. “We didn’t talk about trucks at all for a while. We just built a relationship, got on the phone every now and then whether it was once a month. It turned into once a week, then into every other day. Then one day, he just came out and said, ‘What are you really doing with the trucks?’”
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