John Thompson, 1941-2020

Imagine a man who has won 2 NBA Championships as a player, and it's among the least important parts of his legacy.

John Robert Thompson Jr. was born on September 2, 1941 in Washington, D.C. When he was growing up in the 1940s and '50s, it was unusual for a black American to be a Roman Catholic. But his family was, and he attended Archbishop Carroll High School in the District of Columbia. Other notable alumni include basketball players Austin Carr, Johnny Dawkins, and Eddie Jordan, who played on Rutgers' 1976 Final Four team and coached in the NBA.

John Carroll, for whom the school was named, was the 1st Catholic Archbishop in America, appointed to Baltimore in 1789. This was right after he founded the 1st Catholic university in America, Georgetown University. It should not be confused with The Catholic University of America, which is also in Washington.

But Thompson did not attend Georgetown. Instead, after back-to-back undefeated seasons and City Championships in 1959 and 1960, he went to a different Catholic school, Providence College. In 1963, he and Ray Flynn, who later served as Mayor of Boston, led the Friars to the NIT Championship. The following year, they got Providence into their 1st NCAA Tournament.

Upon graduation, Thompson was PC's all-time leader in points, scoring average and field goal percentage, and 2nd in rebounds. The success of the program since 1964 has led to several players surpassing him.

Nevertheless, he was drafted by the Boston Celtics, where he played center and backed up the great Bill Russell. He played 2 seasons, 1964-65 and 1965-66, and the Celtics won the NBA Championship in both seasons.

After the 1966 Finals, the Celtics left him unprotected in the expansion draft, and he was selected by the Chicago Bulls. If he had stuck with the Bulls, basketball history could have been very different. He might have stayed in Chicago, and ended up succeeding Ray Meyer at the city's DePaul University. Or, he might have restored Loyola University to the glory it received when it won the NCAA Tournament in 1963.

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Instead, he went back to his hometown, and coached at St. Anthony High School. (A few years ago, St. Anthony was merged into Archbishop Carroll.) In 6 seasons, he went 122-28. That got the attention of Georgetown. I don't know if he was the 1st black man to become head coach at a major Catholic university, but his impact was quick: In just 3 years, he took them from 3-23 in the season before he arrived to 12-14, then 13-13, and then 18-10 and the 1975 NCAA Tournament.

In 1979, the Big East Conference was formed, and ESPN began broadcasting. This combination was very beneficial for college basketball, with the Georgetown Hoyas taking on St. John's of New York City, Syracuse of New York State, the University of Pittsburgh, and other high-profile teams.

This might be a good time to answer the question, often used as a taunt by Georgetown's opponents: "What's a Hoya?" Officially, the University says it does not know where the word came from. But, as with Indiana and "Hoosiers," there are theories.

Given the school's Catholic background, studying Greek and Latin was common. The accepted version of the story ties in with that: The Greek hoya means "what" or "such," and the Latin saxa means "rocks." A stone wall then surrounded the Georgetown campus in the west of the District, and so was born the chant of "Hoya Saxa!" or "What Rocks!" (Or "Such Rocks!")

A variant is that the football team's defense was called the Stonewalls, perhaps in reference to the wall around the campus. Although this is retroactively ironic, given the Church's opposition to gay rights and the association of the Stonewall Inn in New York with the movement since 1969.

Thompson led the Hoya basketball team to the Big East Conference's regular-season Championship in 1980, 1984, 1987, 1989, 1992, 1996 and 1997. And he led them to win the Big East Conference Tournament in 1980, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1987 and 1989. So he won both in 1980, 1984, 1987 and 1989.

Since 1983, the Big East Tournament has been held at Madison Square Garden in New York -- which is the secondary home court of St. John's, their main home court having been Alumni Hall on their campus in Jamaica, Queens. That building is now named Carnesecca Arena, for longtime coach Lou Carnesecca, known as Louie the Sweater for his colorful outerwear.

Likewise, in 1981, the Hoyas had outgrown their on-campus McDonough Gymnasium, and began playing their bigger home games out in the suburbs of Landover, Maryland, at the Capital Centre, home of the NBA's Washington Bullets (now the Washington Wizards) and the NHL's Washington Capitals.

And, compared to Carnesecca's garish sweaters, Thompson was known for a towel that he would drape over his sportsjacket. And that wasn't the only fashion statement at 1980s Georgetown. The team's success led to the navy blue Georgetown vinyl jacket becoming popular Winter outerwear in black communities.

And while wearing a T-shirt under your jersey is illegal in the NBA, and is illegal in the NCAA now, it was legal in the NCAA in the early 1980s. During a particularly cold game in his freshman year of 1981-82, Patrick Ewing wore a T-shirt under his Number 33 jersey, and it caught on with the rest of the team.

Eventually, the rivalry between the Hoyas and the St. John's Redmen -- the name was changed to Red Storm in 1995, to avoid references to exploitation of Native Americans -- reached the point where Chris Mullin of St. John's started wearing a T-shirt under his Number 20 jersey as well.

The battles between the Hoyas and the Redmen packed the Cap Centre and The Garden. In the 1984-85 season, they played each other 4 times. They split the Conference games, each winning on the other's court, with St. John's taking the title. But the Hoyas won the Conference Tournament. Then, in the NCAA Tournament, 3 of the Final Four teams were from the Big East, and Georgetown beat St. John's once more, while Villanova of Philadelphia beat Louisiana State.

But the Hoyas turned out to be underachievers. They got to the Elite Eight in 1980, but failed in the 1st Round in 1981. In 1982, they got all the way to the Final at the Superdome in New Orleans, and were underdogs to North Carolina. They were down by 1 point as the last seconds ticked down, and Fred Brown mistakenly passed the ball to James Worthy, and that was it.

The Hoyas lost in the 2nd Round in 1983, but in 1984, they went all the way, beating the University of Houston in the Final. Thompson had become the 1st black head coach in basketball to win a National Championship. The 1st player he hugged was Fred Brown.

They were expected to repeat as National Champions in 1985, and were a whopping 35-2 going into the Final against Villanova at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky. But 'Nova's phenomenal shooting led to the erroneous (but it sure didn't feel like it) title "The Perfect Game," and a 66-64 victory.

It was Ewing's last game. His battles with Mullin, with Worthy, with Akeem Olajuwon of Houston (as Hakeem was then known), with Ralph Sampson of Virginia, and with Len Bias of Maryland became college basketball legend. But he only won the 1 title.

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Thompson's teams continued to be excellent, winning the league in both the regular season and the tournament, but he never reached another Final Four, getting to the Elite Eight in 1987, 1989 and 1996. And he recruited and coached some of the best players in the country, such as Basketball Hall-of-Famers Ewing, Dikembe Mutombo, Alonzo Mourning and Allen Iverson; plus All-Americans and NBA stars Eric "Sleepy" Floyd, David Wingate, Reggie Williams, Othella Harrington and Jerome Williams.

He also earned a great deal of street cred, not just for being a black man who led black men to victory in a city whose permanent residents (most federal government workers living there are not) are black, to the point where funk bandleader George Clinton called Washington "Chocolate City" or "C.C.," but also for showing just who was the most powerful man in town -- and it wasn't Mayor Marion Barry.

It was believed to be Rayful Edmond III, the man who introduced crack cocaine to the District, and whose, shall we say, employees were connected to over 40 murders. Edmond had been a talented basketball player (though not quite talented enough to make a college team), and so he knew pretty much every hoopster who came into the District, including Mourning and his then-Hoya teammate John Turner.

Thompson got wind of this, and invited Edmond to meet him in his office at McDonough Gym. At first, Thompson asked nicely, to cease all contact with his players. Edmond tried to match Thompson's calmness by informing him that none of his players were involved in illegal activities. Thompson stood up to his full 6-foot-10-inch height, stuck a huge finger in Edmond's face, cursed him out, and told him that he had crossed a line, and said, "I will not allow you to destroy their lives!"

Edmond knew that if he launched any kind of reprisal against Thompson, it would cause more problems than it would solve. He backed down, and stayed away from Thompson's players.

In 1997, as did the Wizards and Capitals, the Hoyas moved into the downtown arena now known as the Capital One Arena, and currently split their home games between that building and McDonough. Thompson's marriage broke up in 1999, and he announced his resignation. Later that year, he was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame. His longtime assistant Craig Esherick replaced him, but was not very successful.

In 2004, he was fired, and replaced by Thompson's son, John Thompson III. John III had coached Princeton to 3 Ivy League regular-season titles, and led Georgetown to 3 Big East regular-season titles, and also won the Big East Tournament in 2007. He got them to the Final Four that year, but that was the only time he got them past the Sweet 16, and he was fired after the 2017 season -- replaced by Patrick Ewing, 

John III now works with the Wizards. Another son of John Jr., Ronny Thompson, was the head coach at Ball State University in Indiana in the 2006-07 season, and now works for NBA TV.

On September 11, 2001, John Thompson had a place on an airline flight canceled. That flight was American Airlines Flight 77, which took off from Dulles International Airport in the Virginia suburbs of D.C., with an intended destination of Los Angeles, but was hijacked by al-Qaeda terrorists, turned around, and crashed into the Pentagon, with all aboard being killed.

Thompson lived another 19 years, commentating for various networks. He lived long enough to see a statue of himself dedicated inside McDonough Gymnasium.

He died on Sunday, August 30, 2020, at his home in Arlington, Virginia, across the Potomac River from D.C., 3 days short of his 79th birthday. No cause has yet been released, but "a family source" said he'd been in ill health for a while.

Bill Russell: "Very sad to hear of my friend & teammate John Thompson's passing this morning. Our thoughts are with his family & all of the men he brought through #Georgetown & the impact he had on so many lives. He will be greatly missed #RIP my friend"

Magic Johnson: "The world has lost another icon. Hall of Fame Coach John Thompson was a basketball legend, pioneer, advisor, friend and all around incredible man. Coach Thompson had a heart for teaching and helped so many players become men."

Michael Jordan, whose shot won the 1982 NCAA Final for North Carolina over Thompson's Georgetown: "Coach Thompson was truly a great man and a legend in college basketball. He had such a profound impact on his players and was a father figure to so many of them. I admired him and loved him dearly."

Roy Williams, assistant coach to Dean Smith in that 1982 Final, and now head coach at North Carolina: "He was truly a great man who just happened to be a basketball coach, and a great one at that."

Mike Krzyzewski, head coach at Duke University: "He was an incredibly strong person who always put his players first and fought for them at every turn. Repeatedly, I was amazed at his passion for doing what is right, even when unpopular and no one was looking."

Jim Boeheim, head coach at Syracuse and a longtime rival: "We lost a great basketball coach and a great person with the passing of my friend John Thompson."

Dikembe Mutombo: "He was my mentor, great teacher, hero and a father figure to so many us who got the chance to play for him. Under coach Thompson, I learned a lot about the game of basketball but most importantly, I learned how to be a man in society. We will really miss him."

Allen Iverson, repeating the words of his Hall of Fame induction speech: "Thanks For Saving My Life Coach. I’m going to miss you, but I’m sure that you are looking down on us with a big smile. I would give anything just for one more phone call from you only to hear you say, 'Hey MF', then we would talk about everything except basketball......."

Alonzo Mourning, echoing Iverson: "Coach Thompson, saved my life.... continuously motivating and molding me into the man that I am today. With all the lives he touched and inspired, the best way to pay homage to him is by celebrating his life, applauding his legacy; and using our voices and actions to serve others." ⁣

Patrick Ewing: "We will all miss you, Coach Thompson - but we will never forget you."

Michele Norris, ABC News: "John Thompson had a 97% graduation rate for his players at Georgetown. At some point a teacher claimed he was “uneducatable”. He showed her & then he spent a lifetime showing all of us how to lift up athleticism/scholarship/courage/righteousness & victory on and off the court."

On Sunday night, the NBA on TNT crew, which once included him, all wore towels over their right shoulders in Thompson's memory: Ernie Johnson Jr., Shaquille O'Neal, Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith. Georgetown University also placed a towel over the right shoulder of the statue of their founder, Archbishop John Carroll.

I will let the man who called himself "Big Ace" have the last word: "I told you that I always wanted to be a teacher, not a basketball coach."

Mission accomplished.