Tag: georgetown basketball

John Thompson, the longtime Georgetown coach who won 596 games and led the Hoyas to three Final Fours and the school’s first national championship in 1984, died at the age of 78 according to friends and family. The cause of death is unknown at this point.

Thompson was one of the most important coaches in college basketball history. The Hall of Fame coach was an advocate for college athletes long before it was widely accepted as the right thing to do. He was seen as a father figure to his players, an overwhelming majority of whom were black, but he said he was uncomfortable with that label.

“I am not a father figure to my players,” Thomspon once said. “They all have parents, mothers and fathers, and I think you insult those people when you call me a father image to their sons. It is not my intention to be a crusader for this cause or that cause. I don’t want to be a social worker.”

Thompson may have been reluctant to accept the role of savior, but for many in and around the D.C. area, that’s what he was. During his Hall of Fame induction speech, Allen Iverson, who played for Thompson at Georgetown in the mid-90s, credited his college coach for saving his life.

John Thompson passed away last night.

He was the first Black coach to win a NCAA title.

He won two as a player w the Celtics.

He had a 97% graduation rate for his players at Georgetown.

Here is Allen Iverson thanking John for saving his life.🌎🏀💔 pic.twitter.com/QY88pOWeHC

— Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman) August 31, 2020

Thompson stressed the importance of education, as evidenced by that 97% graduation rate, but he was also a realist and made sure his players understood how money dictated nearly everything in life.

“I think more change has come about because of economics because people totally disregard color barriers if you have economic value,” Thompson said.

Education was a means to that end. At least a means that Thompson had some control over as a coach at a major university who had scholarships to hand out. And he fought hard to keep that avenue to education open for everyone. Thompson vehemently opposed the NCAA’s Propositions 42 and 48, which would deny athletic scholarships for incoming freshmen who failed to meet academic qualifications, and even protested the rule by walking off the court before a game against Boston College.

“What I hope to do is to bring attention to the fact that [Proposal 42] is very much discriminatory,” Thompson said at the time. “I’m beginning to feel like the kid from the lower socio-economic background who has been invited to dinner, had dessert, and now is being asked to leave.”

The rule would require incoming freshmen to maintain a GPA of 2.0 and to score at least 700 on the SAT. Thompson said he had no problem with the GPA requirement but pointed out that the SAT test “had been proven to be racially biased.”

“I don’t think that College Boards were ever meant to be used [as exclusion,]” Thomspon said. “I think it was meant to determine where people were, not to determine where people could go.”

Standing up to the NCAA was no big deal for Thompson. Years earlier he had stood up to D.C.’s most notorious drug dealer. Rayful Edmond, a gang leader who was responsible for the murder of dozens of district residents, had struck up a relationship with several Georgetown players, including future NBA all-star Alonzo Morning. Thompson didn’t like that and set up a meeting with Edmond to let him know it…

A story that has stuck with me for years: John Thompson once invited a drug kingpin responsible for dozens of murders into his office to excoriate him for befriending Georgetown players. https://t.co/q0EVDjH1I6 pic.twitter.com/KpCyqz6hiA

— robertklemko (@RobertKlemko) August 31, 2020

Some coaches may have looked the other way. After all, Edmond was offering Georgetown players benefits Thompson obviously couldn’t provide himself. The most cynical coaches out there may have seen it as a recruiting advantage, but not Thompson.

Thompson was not without his flaws. He’s been characterized as a bully and there are several former players who have said they felt abandoned by the coach after their time as a Hoya ended. But Thompson recognized those flaws and did not shy away from them.

“Usually, there is a good guy or a bad guy,” Thompson once said. “I’m not interested in being the bad guy. Who is? But I don’t know if I’m the good guy either. I make mistakes. I get angry. Sometimes I work the kids too hard. I’m like any other coach — I’d love to have them concentrate on basketball. I have people on my staff who help me control those feelings. I need that check. I am not trying to be anything other than what I am, and I’m really not certain what that is.”

I’d have to disagree with Thompson one thing there: He was not “like any other coach.” He was different, which is why he stood out — and not only in the relatively small landscape of college basketball. Even in the most powerful city in the world, Thompson stood out. He was bigger than basketball and his legacy extends far beyond what his Hoya teams accomplished on the court.