Georgetown Basketball: John Thompson always captured the moment

The late Georgetown Basketball head coach John Thompson had an impact not only on his own players but also those who grew up in the D.C. area.

There’s an old statement that I grew up with that said “you’ll be remembered by what you did in the handful of moments that truly counted.”

Throughout one person’s life, there are many moments and it’s very rare that you know just how much that moment is going to count. Identifying that moment is what has made John Thompson II’s death so heartbreaking.

Growing up in rural Fauquier County, Virginia, Washington D.C. was just close enough to see but just far enough to be out of arm’s reach. Warrenton wasn’t exactly thought of as a suburb of the nation’s capital. But, it was close enough to be considered to be within the reach of the Big East Conference.

The Big East was a funny conference for me. During the late 70’s and early ’80s, must-see TV was the ACC game of the week. It was a great introduction to guys like Phil Ford, Al Wood, and Jimmy Black. That’s why it was so easy for me to fall in love with the North Carolina Tar Heels, much to the chagrin of everyone else in the family.

They were fixated on the Georgetown Hoyas and their coach, John Thompson II. And saw their love of Thompson II and his towel on full display with the Hoyas defeated Maryland 74-68. The love and emotion that my family showed were off the charts but what stood out to me was how Georgetown played on the court.

They didn’t look like the Tar Heels starting with the head coach. Thompson II looked like people in my family. His players played with a grittiness and toughness that made some feel uncomfortable. That’s when I started noticing how rare black coaches were in both college and professional sports.

I started paying attention to how people spoke about Thompson II and Georgetown and how different it was. There was always a twinge of intelligence (or lack thereof) attached to any criticism of Thompson II. When it came to the players the words used were even more biting. Their play was never “tough” or “passionate”, it was always tied to some type of criminal element.

It came to a head the night North Carolina defeated Georgetown in the National Championship. As much as Fred Brown’s snafu has been played, the questioning of Thompson II’s ability to coach came after that.

When James Worthy went to the free throw line, the Tar Heels were up by one. Georgetown had one timeout left with two seconds left in the game. Worthy was 2 for 5 from the free throw line with a one-and-one opportunity. Instead of Thompson II, waiting to use the timeout after the free throw, he used it before leaving the Hoyas no timeouts. Worthy missed the front end but there was no way to stop the clock. Game over.

Though the chances of scoring were slim, Thompson II taking anyway was easily turned into whether Black head coaches have the intelligence to handle situations like that.

But through all of that the lasting image from that night, is Thompson hugging Brown after the pass to Worthy. Can you imagine Bobby Knight doing that in that moment? Yeah… me neither.

It gave me a glimpse of what Thompson II was all about in the moments that counted.

Thompson II would lead Georgetown to three Final Fours and win one National Championship but none came after the 1985 loss to Villanova. But another watershed moment would present himself a few years later.

John Thompson and the political climate

Following the political climate of the 1980s, the NCAA decided to have a punitive people for players who didn’t qualify to play as a freshman. It was determined that telling a player he would have to sit out his freshman year wasn’t enough. The NCAA decided that if you didn’t qualify under Proposition 48 (Proposal 42), you couldn’t be offered a scholarship.

Standardized testing was at the forefront of the “cultural bias” argument. The NCAA using the scores to deem Black athletes, many from poorer areas, ineligible with little to no options to attend college nevertheless play sports.

The rule, like a lot of things under President Ronald Reagan’s Administration, disproportionately impacted the Black community. Long before athletes boycotted games, there was Thompson II at the forefront of standing up in the face of unfairness.

Prior to Georgetown’s game against Boston College, Thompson II would walk off the floor in protest of the NCAA’s change in policy.

Thompson II showed the world that he could be tough enough to hug a player in the most difficult moment. He let the NCAA that he wasn’t going to stand and watch them attack the Black athlete via policy. But Thompson II biggest stand came in one of the unlikeliest situations.

For those who grew up in the Washington D.C. area, you know how much the rise in drugs crippled certain neighborhoods in and around the nation’s capital.

No one personified the idea of a Drug Kingpin more than Rayful Edmund. He was the New Jack City character, Nino Brown, long before that movie was ever made.

As the story goes, Edmund reached out to form a relationship with Hoyas star big-man, Alonzo Mourning.

As the story goes, Thompson II would call Edmund down to his office to tell him to stay away from his player. If you’re not from here, you might not know how big of a deal that was. Thompson II was standing up to, what some deemed, the most powerful man in D.C.

That’s what makes Thompson II so respected. I can’t tell you how many wins Thompson II ended with. Heck, off the top of my head I can’t even tell you how many Big East regular season and tournament titles he won.

What I remember if what he did in the moments that truly counted.