Michael J. Thompson (July 22, 1877 â May 31, 1939) was once dean of American football officials, as well as a baseball umpire. He famously officiated the 1903 Carlisle-Harvard football game.
He also coached, at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland, and at Mount St. Mary's University in Emmitsburg, Maryland. In Emmitsburg, he was later a burgess. He died unexpectedly on May 31, 1939.
Thompson was born on July 22, 1877, in Waterbury, Connecticut, to Owen Thompson and Anna Mary nee Collins. He attended the College of the Holy Cross, where he helped organize the football team. Thompson was a graduate of Georgetown University in Washington D. C., where he was the first graduate manager of athletics in 1901.