Thx for posting Blake. Great to see you here! Hope all is well with you!!John Thompson Jr. at 78 passed away.
Was that the former Mayor lol!One of the all-time greats!! Great person. Great Coach. Great Leader. Great Member of the Community. Inspired many people. I still remember the time he had a meeting with a powerful drug lord in the DC area and the talking heads lost their minds. Some media heads trashed Big Coach for this meeting as simply a stunt. Some media heads called Big Coach brave for this meeting. What most of us common folks said, Big Coach is doing the right thing. Just a meeting to keep his players away from the violence and drugs of that timeframe and it was a mutual sign of respect by Coach and the local drug lord. Powerful & legendary moment.
RIP, Coach John Thompson. Will be missed.
Was that the former Mayor lol!One of the all-time greats!! Great person. Great Coach. Great Leader. Great Member of the Community. Inspired many people. I still remember the time he had a meeting with a powerful drug lord in the DC area and the talking heads lost their minds. Some media heads trashed Big Coach for this meeting as simply a stunt. Some media heads called Big Coach brave for this meeting. What most of us common folks said, Big Coach is doing the right thing. Just a meeting to keep his players away from the violence and drugs of that timeframe and it was a mutual sign of respect by Coach and the local drug lord. Powerful & legendary moment.
RIP, Coach John Thompson. Will be missed.
Back in the hay day of Big East basketball, the conference boasted the greatest head coaching lineup in college basketball: Thompson, Calhoun, Boeheim, Carnesecca, Massimino, Carlesimo and others were all great coaches and often colorful characters that made Dave Gavitt’s brainchild an enormous success.
Football ultimately killed the OBE, but for more than a decade, the Big East was the epicenter of college basketball, and Thompson’s larger than life personality was a key element in the league’s success.