Scholar Stories: Thome Wants to Stay in Spotlight
12/21/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
By Steve Kornacki
Every Wednesday during the 2016-17 academic year, MGoBlue.com will highlight a different student-athlete and their academic path. These are our Scholar Stories.
Hallie Thome knows what to do with a basketball in her hands, and now the Wolverines' talented post player is preparing for what she will do when her playing career concludes.
"One day, eventually, the ball is going to have to be put down," said Thome, "and you have to get a real job. So, I still want to be involved in sports, and particularly basketball."
Thome, a Big Ten All-Freshman team selection last season, wants to become a sports broadcaster and also has an interest in marketing.
"It's fun to be in front of the camera because the pressure's on," said Thome, a marketing and communications major at the University of Michigan. "It's like playing on the basketball court."
Thome said her fraternal twin sister, Hannah, now playing at Ohio University, didn't enjoy being interviewed when they were stars at Chagrin Falls (Ohio) High.
"So I'd always go first on interviews," said Hallie, "and she would just reiterate what I would say. But when I tore my ACL, she'd make me go behind the camera and talk to her when she was being interviewed.
"It's kind of fun to improvise and be put on the spot and say what's on your mind. At times, it can be nerve-wracking, and I can get nervous depending on who it is (interviewing). But at the end of the day, it's just another thing that gets my adrenaline going, just like stepping on the basketball court."
She said she prefers broadcasting to coaching as a future but said those careers share similar aspects.
"If you are a game analyst," Thome said, "it's still like you're a coach off the court. You don't really have a team, but you watch different players and pick up the different styles of different teams.
"But it also would be fun to be an interviewer and talk to the players. It would be fun to get their backgrounds and see where they've come from. Everyone has a story and is more than just a basketball player. So, I think that's very interesting."
Thome said she doesn't have a favorite sportscaster or analyst "but likes seeing different people and how they take different approaches" to doing the job. She enjoys when interviews take on a "comfortable," conversational flow.
Hallie said her mother, Christine, inspired her interest in reporting and journalism. Christine wrote a column, "Beyond My Control," for the Chagrin Valley Times, which also was featured in the Cleveland Plain Dealer Sunday Magazine.
"She would write stories in the paper about our family," said Thome. "But once we started playing sports and started appearing the Plain Dealer sports section, she stopped writing because she didn't want people to think that was the only reason the paper was writing about us."
Her brother, Jack, also was a good high school athlete and plays basketball at Marietta College. Her mother now is a public relations director for a hotel chain.
"She loves to write and looks to get back into it someday," said Hallie. "She had a big influence on me and has a very outgoing personality, too. She's got some style."
Thome said a marketing class she took in high school that focused on taking hypothetical situations and strategizing with public relations approaches brought about her other occupational interest.
"That made me realize I wanted to pursue that kind of marketing," said Thome. "It's creative and requires a lot of thought."
Daniel Hay, a graduate student instructor at Michigan, has had a big impact on Thome.
"He finds a way to make us all interested and get us all involved," she said. "He's helped me see that I really do like communications."
The Wolverines recently finished a stretch of spending 14 of 20 days on the road to play in a tournament in the Virgin Islands -- Thome made the Paradise Jam All-Tournament Team -- as well as Los Angeles, San Diego, Atlanta and Cincinnati prior to final exams.
How did Thome maintain her focus on academics at a critical time in the semester?
"It was important to work ahead and communicate with professors," she said.
Thome credited Michigan head coach Kim Barnes Arico for her wise counsel on and off the court.
"She's had a major impact on my life," said Thome. "I'm a family person, and she's definitely become a motherly figure. She accepts me for who I am, and that's what every player dreams of.
"So, coming in here and being able to do what I want and play my game without her trying to change it is something I love. And she accepts everyone and makes sure everyone has a role. She always finds a way to make it positive. Even if it's hard to hear, she wants me to know the truth and what's happening. So, I can go to her about anything. She asks me about my twin sister and my family, and that's definitely important to me. She's definitely taken me under her wing, and I can't thank her enough."
Thome is the older twin "by 10 minutes," and noted that her and Hannah "are complete opposites" in many ways.
"I'm usually mellow on the court and don't show a lot of emotion," said Hallie, "and she's a hot head (laughter). And she's shorter than I am."
Hallie is 6-foot-5, and Hannah is 6-0.
"She's better athletically than me and can pick up any sport," Hallie said of Hannah. "I was always envious of that. The sports I've succeeded at are the ones where your height's a definite advantage."
Thome is second on the Wolverines in scoring (13.1 points) and rebounding (6.6) while leading with 1.9 blocks per game.
She was a member of the Big Ten All-Freshman team last season and was asked what the biggest adjustment has been for her this year.
"I know the routines now," Thome said. "I was more nervous last year, but this year I'm embracing my role, and I've been able to step up when needed. What helped me the most was staying (in Ann Arbor during) the summer. I was able to work on myself and work on my game, and now I have more confidence in myself.
"We worked so hard in the summer, and you can see it's paying off."
