Legendary Georgetown Coach John Thompson Dies At 78

WASHINGTON, DC — John Thompson Jr., who led Georgetown University to the 1984 national championship, has died at age 78. Hired in 1972, Thompson transformed Georgetown into a basketball juggernaut and played an important role in turning the Big East into an elite college conference.

Thompson, known for the white towel draped over his shoulder, was the first Black coach to win a college basketball championship. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1999.

Along with winning the 1984 national championship, Thompson took the Georgetown Hoyas to three Final Fours in the 1980s while also winning seven Big East titles and leading the 1988 United States national team to a bronze medal in the Olympics.

Thompson's family announced his death in a statement on Monday but did not provide additional details.

Thompson starred for Archbishop Carroll High School in D.C. before leading Providence College to the 1963 NIT championship and serving as captain for the school's first NCAA tournament team in 1964. He was drafted by the Boston Celtics in the third round of the 1964 NBA draft and spent two seasons with Boston, serving as the backup center to NBA legend Bill Russell.

In 1975, Thompson led Georgetown to the NCAA tournament for the first time in 32 years. By the late 1970s, Georgetown had climbed high enough to become a rival of mighty Syracuse University. The two schools played many epic games during Thompson's tenure as head coach.

In the final season of the Manley Field House in 1980, Georgetown defeated No. 2 ranked Syracuse, ending a 57-game home winning streak for Syracuse, which moved to the Carrier Dome the next season. After the game, Thompson declared that “Manley Field House is officially closed,” angering Syracuse fans but also starting a long and bitter rivalry.

A year earlier, Georgetown and Syracuse were two of the core founding members of the Big East Conference, which also included Providence and St. John's. The schools invited Seton Hall, Connecticut and Boston College into the conference. Villanova and Pittsburgh joined the conference shortly after its creation.

According to Washington Post reporter Liz Clarke, Thompson did not like being referred to as the first Black coach to win a national championship. Thompson believed the label slighted generations of African American coaches who could have accomplished the same had they only been given the chance, Clarke wrote Monday.

Thompson recruited and coached four players who ended up in the Hall of Fame: Patrick Ewing, Alonzo Mourning, Dikembe Mutombo and Allen Iverson. Thompson coached a long list of other great players at Georgetown including Eric "Sleepy" Floyd, Reggie Williams, David Wingate, Othella Harrington and Michael Jackson.

After the 1998-99 season, Thompson resigned as coach and was never to coach again. His long-time assistant coach, Craig Esherick, took over as head coach until 2004, when John Thompson III accepted the job as the coach of the program his father had built. For the past three years, Ewing has served as head coach of the team.

By winning the 1984 NCAA championship, Thompson turned Georgetown basketball into a brand that became recognized worldwide, Clarke wrote. Across the nation, young people, especially Black youth, started wearing the Georgetown hat as a symbol of pride.