I find the question extremely offensive.”Born Sept. 2, 1941, John R. Thompson Jr. grew up in Washington, D.C. His father was always working — on a farm in Maryland and later as a laborer in the city — and could neither read nor write.“I never in my life saw my father’s hands clean,” Thompson told The Associated Press in 2007.
Stephen A. Smith addresses the impact John Thompson Jr. had on the Black community and his career. The Hoyas were on the verge of a repeat the following year when they were stunned in the championship game by coach Rollie Massimino’s Villanova team in one of the biggest upsets in tournament history.Success allowed Thompson to rake in money through endorsements, but he ran afoul of his Georgetown bosses when he applied for a gambling license for a business venture in Nevada in 1995.
Nobody knew it at the time, but college basketball needed John Thompson more than John Thompson needed college basketball.
When the son was fired in 2017, the elder Thompson -- known affectionately as “Big John” or “Pops” to many -- was at the news conference announcing Ewing as the successor.Along the way, Thompson said what he thought, shielded his players from the media and took positions that weren’t always popular. John Thompson was loud, and occasionally angry. And he did it all without waiting for permission or worrying about perception. They lost the ’85 title game by two points, thanks to the greatest shooting performance in NCAA tourney history—Villanova made 79% of its shots that night in Lexington, Ky.Thompson’s ascendance helped change some of the hiring practices in college basketball.
More than a legend, he was the voice in our ear everyday.”One of the most celebrated and polarizing figures in his sport, Thompson took over a moribund Georgetown program in the 1970s and molded it in his unique style into a perennial contender, culminating with a national championship team anchored by center Patrick Ewing in 1984.Georgetown reached two other title games with Thompson in charge and Ewing patrolling the paint, losing to Michael Jordan’s North Carolina team in 1982 and to Villanova in 1985.At 6-foot-10, with an ever-present white towel slung over his shoulder, Thompson literally and figuratively towered over the Hoyas for decades, becoming a patriarch of sorts after he quit coaching in 1999.One of his sons, John Thompson III, was hired as Georgetown’s coach in 2004.
Nolan Richardson was loud, and occasionally angry.
He walked off the court and refused to coach a game once, in 1989, to protest NCAA academic standards that he believed were discriminatory to minority groups.
The younger Thompson, with “Pops” often watching from the stands or sitting in the back of the room for news conferences, returned the Hoyas to the Final Four in 2007.Another son, Ronny Thompson, was head coach for one season at Ball State and is now a TV analyst.NBA.com is part of Turner Sports Digital, part of the Turner Sports & Entertainment Digital Network. He did it with a powerful pride in who he was and what his teams were about. Georgetown basketball in its 1980s heyday was the toughest team on the block. All Rights Reserved. A useful chip. He was a towering, glowering force of change.Thompson was the first Black coach to win a national title, at a school that had never dreamed of such a thing after World War II.
Thompson averaged 3.5 points in 74 games with Boston. Two years later, Ewing led an 84-75 win over Houston in the title game. John Thompson was a basketball pioneer during his collegiate coaching career. The 1981–82 team was a defensive juggernaut: From its last three games of the regular season through the Big East tournament and the first four games of the NCAA tourney, the Hoyas allowed an average of just 45.3 points. He is revered as a historic shepherd of the sport, dedicated to the welfare of his community above all else,” the statement said. Join the John Thompson team Our established learning and development policy encourages employees to continuously …
Legendary Georgetown basketball coach John Thompson Jr., who helped grow Big East basketball in the 1980s, has died at 78. John Thompson's Career Was Full Of Intrigue, Memorable Moments.
Assuredly. Until you got to know him, the Big John many saw was brusque, caustic, profane; upon closer inspection he could be warm, humorous and still profane.But the approach was always through the front door, without apology, and without waiting for an invitation. I don’t take any pride in being the first Black coach in the Final Four. I thought that was the color of his hands.
Without an alarm.’”Thompson’s parents emphasized education, but he struggled in part of because of poor eyesight and labored in Catholic grammar school. His star was ascendant, and he was taking the entire Big East with him.
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