DC UrbanSports is devastated to learn of the passing of Georgetown men's basketball coach, John Thompson, Jr. Thompson was as synonymous with Georgetown basketball as searing summer heat is to D.C.
His resume reads, in part:
- 1st African-American head coach to win a major collegiate championship in 1984 - 3 NCAA Final Fours - 3 x National Coach-of-the-Year - 7 Big East Tournament Championships
Thompson also produced basketball legends, the likes of which the world has come to know and love that include Allen Iverson, Alonzo Mourning, Dikembe Mutumbo, current GU coach Patrick Ewing, and others. All became superstars in their own right under the tutelage of one John Thompson, Jr.
READ: Coach Thompson Welcomes Home Alonzo Mourning
More than a coach, he became a mentor to many of the young men he coached. It was Allen Iverson's mom who begged Thompson to allow her son to play at GU to keep him from the pitfalls of the streets of his hometown of Hampton, Virginia.
"My mom went to Georgetown and begged Coach Thompson to give me a chance, and he did", said Iverson as he gave his 2016 NBA Hall of fame enshrinement speech.
In 2009, Alonzo Mourning said, "If it weren't for people around me like coach Thompson, I don't know where I'd be."
Thompson wasn't one to back down on the issues of the day. He was kind enough to give DC UrbanSports an interview in 2009 where we talked everything from cars to his son, JTIII, coaching at GU to the NFL's Kurt Warner. Read about it here.
Coach Thompson was 78.
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