Thompson a giant on and off the court
Who in sports qualifies as bigger than life? Babe Ruth in baseball, right? Michael Jordan in basketball.
Roberto Clemente, Jack Lambert and Mario Lemieux locally.
John Thompson was bigger than life.
Literally and figuratively.
Thompson’s death Sunday at 78 hit me hard because I always thought he was one of those rare people who really had a chance to live forever.
There was no bigger giant on the college basketball court than Thompson, the coach at Georgetown from 1972- 99. At 6 feet 10, plain white towel always draped over his right shoulder, he was a towering, intimidating presence. There also was no bigger giant off the floor than Thompson when it came to fighting for equal treatment for his players and his race. How proud he must
have been of the Milwaukee Bucks last week for having the courage to lead a boycott of NBA playoff games as a protest of social injustice. He had walked in their shoes years earlier, clearly a man well ahead of his time.
Georgetown star Patrick Ewing made the Big East the best basketball conference in the country, but he couldn’t have done it without Thompson behind him. Together, they led the Hoyas to three national championship games in four years from 1981- 85. Those teams — most of Thompson’s teams, actually — beat many opponents before a game even began. They were disciplined, played relentless defense and, most of all, were tough. Thompson demanded it.
I’ve written many times my favorite sports events were Big East basketball games, specifically at the conference tournament at Madison Square Garden. The competition between the teams was unlike anything I’ve seen. Thompson’s Hoyas were the main reason for it. If you beat them — if you survived them physically — you knew you accomplished something special.
Georgetown won only one of those three title games, beating Houston, 8475, in 1984, Ewing’s junior season. The Hoyas lost to North Carolina, 63- 62, in 1982 when Michael Jordan hit the winning shot to give Dean Smith his first national championship after six Final Four failures, but the game is more remembered for Georgetown guard Fred Brown throwing away a pass at the end. Georgetown also lost to Villanova, 66- 64, in 1985 in a game that is regarded as the greatest upset in tournament history.
Thompson embraced Brown on the court after the North Carolina loss, a bear hug Brown will remember the rest of his life. “Don’t worry about it. You’ve won a lot more games for me than you’ve lost,” Thompson whispered into Brown’s ear. It wasn’t until Bob Huggins cupped the face of West Virginia star Da’Sean Butler after Butler tore up his knee at the 2010 Final Four that there was a poignant moment to rival it.
Thompson also showed his gentle giant side when he laughed about the 1985 loss with Villanova coach Rollie Massimino during a CBS pregame Final Four telecast years later. “I got more publicity for my losses than I ever did for my wins,” Thompson said. “So, thanks to Rollie, I’m making a hell of a lot of money because I lost games.”
My favorite Thompson moment happened in a game at Madison Square Garden in February 1985. No. 1 St. John’s against No. 2 Georgetown. Chris Mullin against Ewing. I hadn’t felt tension like that at any sporting event, at least until Thompson opened his suit jacket to reveal a shirt in the same pattern of the ugly sweater that St. John’s coach Lou Carnesecca wore as his lucky charm. There was nothing lucky about it that night for St. John’s as the relaxed Hoyas laid out an 85- 69 whipping.
Not to be outdone, Carnesecca had his moment the next time the teams played. He had his managers tie several white towels together and walked on the court with the towels over his shoulder, trailing behind him. Thompson grinned from ear to ear.
There was nothing humorous about Thompson’s boycott of a game against Boston College in January 1989. Right before tipoff of what became an 86- 60 Georgetown win, he flipped his towel to assistant Mike Riley, walked across the court at the Capital Centre and left the building in protest of the NCAA’s vote to deny athletic scholarships to freshmen who failed to qualify academically under Proposition 48. At the time, such players could have scholarships but couldn’t play as freshmen. Thompson, who always demanded that his players attend class and pursue excellence, argued that standardized test scores worked against minority students and that the majority of those denied eligibility would be Black. His walkout rattled the sport. The NCAA listened to his message, delayed implementation of the rule and later passed an amended version.
“He was ahead of his time by speaking truth to power when it was hard to do,” John Calipari tweeted Monday.
“John was a one- of- a- kind leader and an absolute treasure,” Mike Krzyzewski wrote on Twitter. “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 watching.”
“Blueprint, idol to many, including myself,” Mike Tomlin said.
Now, Thompson is gone, just one more reason to hate 2020.
I’m tempted to suggest Thompson is even bigger in death than he was in life, but it just wouldn’t be true.
Not even close.