.jpg) Thompson in 1984 | |||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | (1941-09-02)September 2, 1941 Washington, D.C., U.S. | ||||||||||||||
| Died | August 30, 2020(2020-08-30) (aged 78) | ||||||||||||||
| Listed height | 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) | ||||||||||||||
| Listed weight | 269 lb (122 kg) | ||||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||||
| High school | Archbishop Carroll (Washington, D.C.) | ||||||||||||||
| College | Providence (1961–1964) | ||||||||||||||
| NBA draft | 1964: 3rd round, 25th overall pick | ||||||||||||||
| Drafted by | Boston Celtics | ||||||||||||||
| Playing career | 1964–1966 | ||||||||||||||
| Position | Center | ||||||||||||||
| Number | 18, 5 | ||||||||||||||
| Coaching career | 1966–1999 | ||||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||||
Playing | |||||||||||||||
| 1964–1966 | Boston Celtics | ||||||||||||||
Coaching | |||||||||||||||
| 1966–1972 | St. Anthony HS | ||||||||||||||
| 1972–1999 | Georgetown | ||||||||||||||
| Career highlights | |||||||||||||||
As player:
As coach:
| |||||||||||||||
Stats at NBA.com  | |||||||||||||||
| Stats atBasketball Reference | |||||||||||||||
| Career coaching record | |||||||||||||||
| College | 596–239 (.714) | ||||||||||||||
| Basketball Hall of Fame | |||||||||||||||
| Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame | |||||||||||||||
Medals
| |||||||||||||||
John Robert Thompson Jr. (September 2, 1941 – August 30, 2020) was an American professionalbasketball player andcollege basketball coach for theGeorgetown Hoyas men's team. He became the firstAfrican-American head coach to win a major collegiate championship in basketball when he led the Hoyas to theNCAA Division I national championship in1984. Thompson was inducted into theNaismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame andNational Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame.
Thompson played college basketball for theProvidence Friars and earned honorable mentionAll-American honors in 1964. He played for two seasons in theNational Basketball Association (NBA) for theBoston Celtics, who won anNBA championship in both seasons. Thompson became a high school coach inWashington, D.C., before coaching Georgetown for 27 seasons. He worked as a radio and television sports commentator after his retirement from coaching. Thompson earned a master's degree in Counseling and Guidance at theUniversity of the District of Columbia (UDC). He also served as an employee at the center for 4-H and Youth Development at UDC.[1]
Thompson was born and raised inWashington, D.C., and was a practicingRoman Catholic.[2] As a child, his mother insisted on sending him to Catholic schools for the educational opportunities and academic challenges.[3]
AtArchbishop Carroll High School, Thompson emerged as a standout center, playing in three consecutive City Championship games (1958–60). In 1959, Carroll All-Mets Thompson,Monk Malloy, George Leftwich andTom Hoover won over Cardozo 79–52. The next year, Thompson and Leftwich led the Lions over the Ollie Johnson/Dave Bing led Spingarn, 69–54. During his senior year, Thompson led Carroll to a 24–0 record, preserving their 48-game winning streak along the way. Carroll capped off the undefeated 1960 season with a 57–55 win over St Catherine's Angels of Racine, Wisconsin in the Knights of Columbus National Championship Tournament with Thompson scoring a team-high 15 points and adding 12 rebounds.[4]
He was voted to the all-tournament team and was later named a second-teamParade All-American.[5]
After graduating from Archbishop Carroll, Thompson went toProvidence College, where he played on the 1963NIT Championship team withRay Flynn, and was part of the first ProvidenceNCAA tournament team in his senior year in 1964,[6] when he received honorable mention from theAssociated Press for itsAll-American team.[7] Upon graduation, Thompson was theFriars' all-time leader in points, scoring average, and field goal percentage, and second in rebounds to former teammateJim Hadnot.[8]
He was selected in the third round of the1964 NBA draft and played two seasons in theNational Basketball Association (NBA) for theBoston Celtics from 1964 to 1966.[6] At 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) and 270 lb (120 kg), he backed upBill Russell, the Celtics star center, en route to consecutiveNBA championships.[3] Nicknamed "the Caddy" for his secondary role to Russell, he averaged 3.5 points and 3.5 rebounds in 74 games played.[9] Thompson was selected by theChicago Bulls in the1966 NBA expansion draft, but he decided to retire from playing instead of relocating to Chicago.[3][10]
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Thompson was a guidance counselor and head coach at St. Anthony High School inWashington, D.C. from 1966 to 1972, compiling a 122–28 record.[6] He left St. Anthony forGeorgetown University, who chose him over more experienced candidatesMorgan Wootten andGeorge Raveling.[3]
Inheriting aHoyas team which had been 3–23the year before, Thompson led the Hoyas to a .500 record byhis second season. By his third season in1974–75, Georgetown qualified for theNCAA tournament for the first time since1943.[11] Over 27 years, Thompson's Hoyas went 596–239 (.714),[6] running off a streak of 24 postseason appearances – 20 in the NCAA tournament and 4 in theNIT – including a 14-year streak of NCAA appearances from 1979 to 1992 that saw threeFinal Four appearances in 1982, 1984 and 1985.[12] The1984 squad, led by 7-foot (2.1 m) centerPatrick Ewing, won theDivision I national championship overHouston, and Thompson became the first African-American coach to lead his team to the title.[3]Two years earlier, Thompson had become the first Black coach to advance their team to the Final Four.[6][13] Georgetown missed repeating as champs in1985, losing in the finals to underdogVillanova.[6]
An imposing figure on the sidelines who towered over many opposing coaches and even players, Thompson was noted for a trademark white towel that he carried on his shoulder during the games,[3][6] which he did as a tribute to his mother.[14] He won seven Coach of the Year awards:Big East (1980, 1987, 1992),United States Basketball Writers Association (1982),The Sporting News (1984),National Association of Basketball Coaches (1985), andUnited Press International (1987).[12] Thompson coached many notable players, including Ewing,Sleepy Floyd,Alonzo Mourning,Dikembe Mutombo,Allen Iverson andVictor Page. Under Thompson, 26 players were chosen in theNBA draft;[15] eight were drafted in the first round,[16] including two playersselected first overall: Ewing and Iverson.[17] Thompson also insisted on top academic performance from his players and maintained a 97% graduation rate among the team.[18]
In the late 1980s, Thompson got word that several of his players, includingAlonzo Mourning, were associating with notedWashington, D.C. drug lord and avid Hoya fanRayful Edmond III,[19] whose crew was connected to at least forty homicides.[20] At the height of his empire, Edmond became very friendly with several Hoyas players. When Thompson confirmed what was happening, he sent word through his sources to have Edmond meet him at his office at McDonough Gymnasium.
When Edmond arrived, Thompson was initially cordial, and informed Edmond that he needed to cease all contacts with his players post haste,[21] specificallyJohn Turner and Mourning, both of whom had befriended Edmond.[22] When Edmond tried to assure him that his players were not involved in anything illegal, the 6'10" Thompson stood up and pointed his index finger between Edmond's eyes. Thompson, known for his volatility, quickly boiled over, and unleashed a profanity-laced tirade in which he told Edmond that he did not care about his crew's violent reputation or propensity to commit murder. Edmond had crossed a line with Thompson's players, and Thompson was not going to allow Edmond to destroy the players' lives.[23]
At the publishing of his autobiography, however, it was revealed that the conversation between Edmond and Thompson was not as confrontational as once believed.
"A myth has grown about me threatening Rayful and ordering him to stay away from my players. Some people like to say I stood over him and pointed my finger in his face. That's nonsense. That myth is based on the perception of me as intimidating and a bully. Like when I argued with refs, I supposedly scared them.
Edmond never associated with another Hoyas player on a personal level, and Thompson was the only person to stand up to Edmond without consequence,[25] initially causing some shock and surprise that there was no reprisal.[26]
Thompson was an assistant coach for theU.S. national team on its gold medal-winning1976 Olympic team. He was later the head coach of the1988 Olympic team, the Americans' last fully collegiate squad. Although favored to win the international tournament, the United States was narrowly defeated by the all-professional and experiencedSoviet Union in the semifinals 82–76, marking the first time the Americans did not reach the gold medal game. The United States won its final game againstAustralia to capture the bronze medal, the lowest finish by an American team for men's basketball.[6]
On January 14, 1989, before the start of Georgetown's home game againstBoston College, Thompson walked off theCapital Centre floor and turned coaching duties over to assistant Mike Riley. Thompson was protesting the NCAA's Proposition 42, which would have denied athletic scholarships to student athletes who failed to qualify academically under standards of the already in effectProposition 48.[27] Thompson expressed concerns that the proposal would leave many student athletes without a means of paying for their education, as well as what he felt would be the proposal's disproportionate impact on Black athletes.[28]
On January 8, 1999, Thompson announced his resignation as Georgetown's head coach, citing marriage problems. He was replaced by longtime assistantCraig Esherick.[29] Thompson was inducted into theNaismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on October 1, 1999.[30]
Esherick was fired in 2004 and replaced byJohn Thompson III, Thompson's eldest son. At the time the elder Thompson was serving Georgetown in what Rev.Leo J. O'Donovan, university president, referred to as a "coachemeritus" position, assisting on academic, athletic, and community projects.[29][31] John Thompson III coached Georgetown until 2017.[3]
John Thompson Jr.'s younger son,Ronny Thompson, formerly an assistant coach at Georgetown, was the head coach atBall State.[6]
After retiring from coaching, Thompson became the presidential consultant for urban affairs atGeorgetown University, a basketball commentator forTNT, and host of a sports talk show,The John Thompson Show, onWTEM inWashington, D.C.[32][33] He signed a lifetime contract withClear Channel Radio and WTEM in 2006.[34] Working withRick Walker, Thompson remained on the show until 2012.[35]
Thompson was scheduled to be onAmerican Airlines Flight 77 on September 11, 2001, which was hijacked and crashed into the Pentagon in theSeptember 11 attacks. He was scheduled to appear onJim Rome's radio show in Los Angeles and wished to fly on September 11 and attend a friend's birthday party in Las Vegas on the 13th. After Rome's producer told Thompson that his plans would not work for the show, assuring him that he would be able to travel from Los Angeles to Las Vegas immediately after the show, he canceled his flight. Ten years later, onThe Jim Rome Show, Thompson reunited with the producer who persuaded him not to take Flight 77.[36][37]
Georgetown University's John R. Thompson Intercollegiate Athletic Center was completed in 2016. The lobby includes a statue of Thompson.[38]
Thompson died at his home inArlington County, Virginia on August 30, 2020, at the age of 78.[39] Thompson's autobiography,I Came as a Shadow, was published posthumously in December 2020.[40][41]
| GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game |
| FG% | Field goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field goal percentage | FT% | Free throw percentage |
| RPG | Rebounds per game | APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game |
| BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game | Bold | Career high |
| † | Won anNBA championship |
Source[42]
| Year | Team | GP | MPG | FG% | FT% | RPG | APG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1964–65† | Boston | 64 | 10.9 | .402 | .590 | 3.6 | .3 | 3.6 |
| 1965–66† | Boston | 10 | 7.2 | .467 | .667 | 3.0 | .3 | 3.2 |
| Career | 74 | 10.4 | .410 | .595 | 3.5 | .3 | 3.5 | |
| Year | Team | GP | MPG | FG% | FT% | RPG | APG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1965† | Boston | 3 | 7.0 | .286 | 1.000 | 4.0 | .3 | 3.7 |
| 1966† | Boston | 3 | 3.7 | .143 | – | 1.3 | .0 | .7 |
| Career | 6 | 5.3 | .214 | 1.000 | 2.7 | .2 | 2.2 | |
Source:[12]
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