*With barely enough time to process the sudden death of Chadwick Boseman, the sports world and beyond is now dealing with the death of legendary Georgetown basketball coach John Thompson Jr. at 78.

Known simply as “Big John,” the coach led Georgetown for 27 seasons, including to the 1984 national championship. He built the program into a Big East powerhouse, took the Hoyas to three Final Fours in the 1980s, won seven Big East titles and led the 1988 United States national team to a bronze medal in the Olympics.

 

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His coaching legacy includes the recruitment and development of four players in the Basketball Hall of Fame: Patrick Ewing, Alonzo Mourning, Dikembe Mutombo and Allen Iverson. Thompson was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1999, was a pioneer credited with opening the door for a generation of minority coaches.  His national title run in 1984 was the first by a Black head coach and altered the perception of Black coaches. Also of note, 97 percent of the students who played for him left Georgetown with a college degree.

There are multiple instances of standout moments that reflected Thompson’s protection of his players both on and off the court, including confronting notorious DC drug kingpin Rayful Edmond III after learning that he had befriended some of the Georgetown players, including Mourning and John Turner. Edmond, a popular figure in the city who attended many Georgetown games and frequented a popular nightclub where he met some of the Hoyas, was arrested later that year for his role in a drug trafficking operation and eventually sentenced to life in prison.

ESPN’s Michael Wilbon talks about this at length below at the 1:25 mark. Also, Stephen A. Smith reacts to the death at the 11:45 mark.

Source: Reaction to the Death of Legendary Georgetown Basketball Coach John Thompson at 78

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