NCAA Basketball: The ulimate legacy of head coach John Thompson Jr.

The stands John Thompson took

Proposition 42 (later to be known as Proposition 48) was a piece of NCAA legislation that was introduced in 1989 that had the potential to forever alter the landscape of college hoops. It also disproportionately affected black players, particularly those that relied on the nature of partial qualifying to retain eligibility to play as freshmen.

John Thompson wasn’t just a big proponent for its removal, but he took every opportunity to expose the disparity it represented to the great majority of players of color that would be affected by its implementation. Those efforts culminated with him personally boycotting a huge Big East conference game against Boston College.

He was a marquee name that drew revenue for both the Big East and the NCAA, but it didn’t stop him from sending that message to NCAA leadership that needed to hear it. The NCAA subsequently relented and did away with Prop 42 for more equitable academic standards for freshmen.

It wouldn’t be the first time that Coach Thompson would point out how the game outside of the lines at the D1 level worked. The emphasis was always on the success of his players and leveling the playing field for an entire generation of African American players. Without his stand on Prop 48, there might not BE a Shark Dynasty at UNLV in the ’90s or a Fab 5 at Michigan. Talented freshmen might have been encouraged to test the NBA or overseas ball earlier than advised.

The amending of Proposition 48 stabilized a potentially discriminatory situation and made the whole of college basketball better by default. Black caches like Thompson and John Cheney were at the tip of that spear.

We can always talk about the more visible players that matriculated through John Thompson’s program during his watch (Allen Iverson, Patrick Ewing, Dikembe Mutombo, and Alonzo Mourning immediately come to mind), but it’s the totality of the impact he had on the lives of his student-athletes that speaks volumes about the lengths that he would go to ensure their success outside of the game of basketball.

Even if that meant facing down one of the most notorious criminals in Washington D.C.’s history. If you grew up in the DC Metro area you knew who Rayful Edmonds was; He was a D.C. drug kingpin whose name was synonymous with the cities’ crack epidemic in the late ’80s and into the ’90s. Like everybody else, Edmonds was drawn to the mystique of the Hoya program, hanging around players, etc.

When have you ever seen a collegiate basketball coach personally take matters into his own hands to keep a drug kingpin away from the players under his care? That was the type of person “Big John” was. The stories about his ‘conference’ with Rayful Edmonds was the stuff of legend, with the end result turning out the way HE wanted it to.

He took on kids that other programs wouldn’t touch, and molded successful student-athletes and black men. There are plenty of worthy coaches that reside in the Naismith Hall Of Fame, but John Thompson’s leadership and willingness to speak to harsh truths for the benefit of his players set him apart. His sons went on to become successful coaches themselves.

The same can be said for many of his players, including Patrick Ewing, who now roams the same sidelines Big John did when he wore the Blue and Gray.