‘Fighter for the underdog’ is one of Tri-Cities youngest ever to earn MLK Spirit Award

Joseph Thornton cracks a smile stepping into the Lee R. Thornton Center at Columbia Basin College.

Like a landslide, the memories come rushing back to him.

“This building really reminds me of the young Joe and how he was trying to figure his life out,” he told the Tri-City Herald. “I remember sitting in class thinking, “Is this a sign?”

Things were changing back then. Thornton was a new dad, raising a kid as a single father and was making a career change in a new city.

The stakes were high and there was a lot on the line.

“Sitting here in this building, seven years ago, I would have never imagined where I’d be,” he said.

Thornton was honored Monday with CBC’s 2024 Martin Luther King Jr. Spirit Award.

Thornton is the founder of the Big Bro Joe Foundation, a youth mentorship nonprofit that connects youths with positive male role models. He’s also a certified personal training and runs his own gym, Total Impact Training, and is an active volunteer in the Tri-Cities.

Each year, CBC honors a community member who shows commitment to equality and social justice, and whose contributions to society reflect King’s spirit, philosophy, vision and teachings.

Thornton, 35, of Kennewick, was nominated by over a dozen community members and is among the youngest to receive the accolade.

“The depth of Joe’s impact on the young men in our community is remarkable,” said CBC President Rebekah Woods in a statement. “His dedication to providing leadership, mentorship and role models through his Big Bro Joe Foundation is a needed resource for the Tri-Cities. We are grateful for his work and dedication to ensure a positive, lasting impact in our community.”

Later this month, Thornton also will attend the National Mentoring Summit in Washington, D.C., where he’ll network with other leaders and speak to lawmakers.

He told the Herald he was “very surprised” and “ecstatic” to learn he was being recognized. He got the news while at a Seahawks game and immediately called his mom.

“It is a big honor and I’m very appreciative of the opportunity and the nominations,” he said. “Being recognized in the same sentence as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. means a lot because he stood for so much. He stood for equality, justice and community and unity. So, being recognized with this award definitely gave me validation that I was on the right track and that I’m doing what he would do.”

He started the foundation unofficially back in 2018 as a chance to attend sporting events with younger men he was mentoring. Eventually, the “Big Bro Joe” nickname was placed on him.

And it stuck.

Mentors and teachers

Thornton grew up in the Atlanta suburbs, the youngest of five — and the only son — to a single mother.

“It was rough,” Thornton recalled. “I think that’s where the mentors really played a big part for me, because I was the only boy in a family of women. So, having a male mentor was something very special to me, per se, because they took over that fatherly figure in my life.”

He developed a close bond with his grandfather, Papa Frank, who took him traveling and taught him to cut hair and grass. An authoritative figure in his neighborhood, Papa also showed Thornton how to give back to his community.

As a kid, Thornton excelled in academics and athletics. He graduated from Stone Mountain High School in 2006 and immediately enrolled in class at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, where he earned his bachelor’s in criminal justice and psychology.

Thornton’s plan was to become a lawyer and “fight for the underdog.”

“I wanted everybody to be represented and treated equally,” he said.

But Thornton also had dreams of taking his football prowess to the pros. The young linebacker played all four seasons for the Chattanooga Mocs, and he heard opportunity calling in indoor gridiron. Football was quickly becoming his main focus.

He came to Eastern Washington in 2011 to play for the now-defunct Tri-Cities Fever indoor team.

“When I got off the airplane I saw my first tumbleweed,” Thornton remembered.

Even though he was a big city boy living in Washington’s breadbasket, Thornton says he adjusted and started making some solid relationships in the community. The Fever made an appearance at the IFL United Bowl Championship the first year he played.

But in 2014, two life changing events occurred that would shift the course of Thornton’s life forever: He signed his first professional football deal and became a new dad.

New beginnings

Thornton spent the next two years living seasonally in Montreal, playing for the Alouettes in the Canadian Football League, while raising his daughter, Alaina.

But it wasn’t long before he knew he needed to make more changes.

“I retired early at 26 to become dad,” he said. “My dream was over as far as becoming a professional footballer, but it manifested in creating a dream for my daughter.”

Thornton said those first few months back in the Tri-Cities were isolating and scary. He had a lot of questions about fatherhood and wasn’t sure what to do next.

That’s when he enrolled in classes at CBC and began pursuing a career in nursing.

“I learned a lot about myself here. A lot of dedication, a lot of perseverance really led me to the position I am now. But it was challenging,” he said. “When you don’t have a support system around you, you internalize a lot of emotions and a lot of feelings.”

Thornton became a certified nursing assistant and even got accepted into nursing school. But he made a sharp pivot to entrepreneurship after realizing the time commitment nursing school would be.

Plus, he didn’t have a babysitter to watch Alaina.

A brief time working as a juvenile detention officer at the Benton Franklin Juvenile Justice Center would inform Thornton’s perceptions of what type of organizations could help young impressionable males get stay out of the criminal justice system.

Big Bro Joe Foundation

A few positive male role models can go a long way — that’s something Thornton knows from his own experience.

“My whole goal is to not only show these young men direction, but also teach them the importance of lifting up the next person,” he said. “I believe in that. As you climb this ladder of success in life, you need to always look down and bring somebody up with you. It’s a selfless act.”

The Big Bro Joe Foundation currently has 10 mentors and 16 “Little Bros,” ages 9 to 13. They live all over the Tri-Cities and come from a variety of backgrounds.

The group meets for four hours every Saturday to do an activity together, and they also host family game night Thursday at the Big Bro Joe Youth Center. They also attend and volunteer at multiple Tri-Cities events every year, including the Lampson Cable Bridge Run.

The group also regularly takes longer trips to places like the Oregon Coast or Pacific Science Center in Seattle.

In addition to the friendships and role models, the program also helps keep boys active and social.

Anyone interested in donating, sponsoring a youth or getting involved with Big Bro Joe Foundation can visit bigbrojoe.org.