Former Georgetown Basketball Coach John Thompson Jr. Remembered As Giant In The Sport

Thirty-three years after the Villanova Wildcats finished off one of the greatest sports upsets in history — beating the mighty Georgetown Hoyas in the NCAA men’s basketball championship game — two of the 1985 ‘Nova teammates, Chuck Everson and Connally Brown, were in San Antonio, Texas to take in the 2018 Final Four.

Everson and Brown were enjoying the sights along San Antonio’s famed River Walk when they learned that legendary Georgetown basketball coach John Thompson Jr. was eating in a nearby restaurant with his son, John Thompson III. The elder Thompson had of course patrolled the Georgetown sidelines for 27 years, and was coaching opposite the late Rollie Massimino during that epic ‘85 championship battle.

“We walk in the door, and as we’re approaching Coach Thompson, (Brown) walks up and goes, ‘Hey Coach, Connally Brown, Villanova 1985 national champs, nice to meet you.’ I was like, dude, what are you doing?” said Everson, laughing at the memory. 

Everson said that Thompson looked at him as if he and Brown were crazy. 

“Coach Thompson said, ‘Chuck, is this guy kidding me or what?’ I said, ‘Our faces and names are etched in his brain. They’re not coming out. Am I right Coach?’ He says, ‘That’s exactly right.’ We had a good laugh,” said Everson. “It was pretty cool.”

Monday, after Thompson’s family issued a statement announcing his death at the age of 78, the college basketball world lost a titan in the sport. Not only did Thompson become the first Black head coach to win a NCAA title (1984), but he was constantly fighting for athletes’ rights, constantly raising his voice about issues that at times may have been unpopular or which made him the target of criticism. He once boycotted a game due to his opposing Proposition 48, an NCAA rule which states a student athlete must meet the minimum academic grades and standardized test scores to be able to compete. 

“(Thompson) didn’t want kids labeled going into a classroom, where people looked at them and said, ‘Well, you didn’t make the necessary score that the NCAA says you must have to qualify to play.’ He fought that like you couldn’t believe,” said Hall of Fame basketball broadcaster Dick Vitale. “He would grab me so many times and say, ‘C’mon Dick, pound that on TV big time. Kids should not have to suffer like that, walk in a classroom and be humiliated.’” 

Thompson’s Hall of Fame coaching career began with Georgetown in 1972, after he had developed the basketball program at Washington D.C.’s St. Anthony High School into a powerhouse. He soon turned around a moribund Hoyas program, and after Thompson recruited the number one high school player at the time, Patrick Ewing, Georgetown advanced to three NCAA championship games in four years with Ewing at center. 

The Hoyas lost to Michael Jordan and North Carolina in the 1982 title game — which featured guard Fred Brown making an errant pass in the final seconds. The Hoyas beat the University of Houston in 1984 and then got upset by Villanova in 1985, Ewing’s last year at the school. 

“Thompson proved you could come from the scholastic ranks and win right away in college. He came out of St. Anthony and took Georgetown to greatness,” said Vitale. “He probably would have won two more national championships except for a buzzer shot by Michael Jordan and the Fred Brown pass in that game. And an unbelievable game against Villanova in ‘85. Villanova pitched a Don Larsen perfect game to beat them.” 

Thompson coached four players who became NBA Hall of Famers — Ewing, Alonzo Mourning, Dikembe Mutombo and Allen Iverson. During the 1985 NCAA Tournament, three Big East schools — Georgetown, Villanova and St. John’s — were in the Final Four.

“It’s a great loss. A big loss, naturally, for the family, for Georgetown basketball, the Big East,” said former St. John’s University basketball coach Lou Carnesecca, who coached the Red Storm during that ‘85 NCAA Final Four run. “I think that was a great time for basketball in this area. (Madison Square) Garden was jumping.”

Ed Pinckney, the starting center for that ‘85 Villanova team, said the intimidating, imposing coach that many people saw in Thompson was not the same person he came to know, starting with the first time Pinckney met Thompson in high school. 

“Coach Thompson spoke at my high school (Adlai Stevenson in the Bronx). Twice. My junior year, Coach Thompson came to a barbeque that my high school coach had,” said Pinckney. “Everything he stood for in terms of rights for athletes, equal rights for people… He was a huge part of the Black Coaches Association. Amazing person to have competed against and then eventually to know.” 

Pinckney laughed when asked if Thompson recruited him out of high school — “He was too busy chasing the No. 1 player (Ewing),” said Pinckney — but long after his Villanova playing days, Pinckney said Thompson was a huge influence once Pinckney embarked on his coaching career. 

“After my career at Villanova, I would occasionally run into Coach Thompson,” said Pinckney, who played 12 seasons in the NBA and who now scouts for the Houston Rockets. “He was amazing. I think there’s this idea of him being the kind of guy that held a grudge. But I remember at a USA Basketball event in Las Vegas, he said, ‘Hey, come over here. I want to tell you something.’ He started telling me about coaching, making sure I studied the craft. 

“He said, ‘Most people are going to try to put you in a box, say that you’re a big man coach. You should never allow them to do that.’ It was a great lesson for me to hear that when I first started coaching in college,” added Pinckney.

Everson said the whole “Hoya Paranoia” moniker that became popular in the 1980s stemmed from how guarded Thompson was with his players, which Everson said created a mystique around the program. 

“I think Thompson was more misunderstood than complicated. Nobody understood why he brought his team away from all the limelight stuff,” said Everson. “When we played in Lexington (Kentucky, for the 1985 NCAA championship game), they stayed in Louisville. It was an us-against-them attitude. You drew conclusions based on how they played. They were all tough, hard-nosed guys.” 

But Everson said that he got to know many of those Georgetown opponents in the ensuing years after the ‘85 upset. “They’re all great guys,” said Everson. “And that was all from Coach Thompson.” 

Everson recalled that during a 1985 game between Georgetown and St. John’s at the Garden, the 6-9 Thompson opened his blazer to reveal he was wearing the exact same sweater as Carnesecca, which was then the trademark clothing choice of the St. John’s coach.

“He was an intimidating guy, the biggest coach by far. But you’ve got to have a good sense of humor to do what he did with Carnesecca,” said Everson. “He had the guts to pull that off. That’s when the Big East was the Big East.” 

“I’ll never forget when John upstaged me by putting on that sweater,” said Carnesecca, 95. “Even worse, they won the ball game. The worst!”

Massimino died in 2017 and Pinckney said his former college coach’s death “was definitely like one of your family members passed away.” Pinckney said he felt the same about Thompson, despite being on the opposite side of that college hoops rivalry.

“People talk about people walking heavy, Coach Thompson was all of that,” said Pinckney. “He commanded respect wherever he went.”

Vitale said it had already been a tough year for him personally, with the deaths of college coaching legends Lute Olson and Eddie Sutton. Now Thompson is gone. 

“Thompson’s legacy, it was opening doors for other successful Black coaches,” said Vitale. “John didn’t just say what was popular with people. He said what he felt, what he believed in. I’ve often called him the Muhammad Ali of coaching. I called him a champ. I visualize him now, a big white towel around his neck. He was a heavyweight champ in basketball as a coach, and as a person.”