Lessons from a Legend
In case you missed it, today is National Coaches Day.
In observance, I'm reposting an article I wrote several years ago on legendary coach John Thompson.
Admittedly, those of us from a certain era will recognize more of the names, but the lesson and the story are both timeless.
He was quite a guy.
To paraphase James Earl Jones, I miss him and those like him....Damn few left.
Lessons from a Legend
Being a teenager and growing up in the 1980's, John Thompson's Georgetown teams were quite literally larger than life.
Growing up on the outskirts of Philadelphia and being a college basketball fan, to me there was nothing better than watching those Big East battles in the early to mid 80's.
Patrick Ewing, Ed Pinckney, Sleepy Floyd, Pearl Washington, Charles Smith, Reggie Williams, Chris Mullin, and on and on...
And at the glorious center of it all was John Thompson.
Invariably either yelling, scowling, laughing, teaching, coaching, or complaining (often in the same sequence), he stalked the sidelines with his gigantic white towel - and usually the win, slung over his shoulder.
Despite his intimidating presence however, you didn't have to look too closely to find the appeal of John Thompson. Regardless of what happened on the hardwood, there was always a genuine post game embrace, a nod, and a warm smile for his adversaries lingering on the other side of the court - Especially Lou Carnesecca or Rollie Massimino.
I loved seeing that - It endeared him to me, and I'm sure many others.
Indeed, although there are many things worth remembering from those years - The introduction of the shirts under the jerseys courtesy of Patrick Ewing, Michael Graham's one and done year of defensive domination, and the discovery that a Hoya is not actually a bulldog - there is one that stands out.
The 1982 NCAA Championship game. Thompson's upstart Hoya team was playing Dean Smith's heavily favored North Carolina Tar Heels.
With just 17 seconds left, down by one with a chance to win, Georgetown's Freddie Brown picked up his dribble near the top of the key and turned to throw a pass to who he thought was Eric "Sleepy" Floyd, who only a moment earlier had been positioned just to his right.
But Floyd wasn't there. In reaction to Brown's fake, he had proceeded down the right side, just outside the lane.
Brown's pass drifted fatefully into the arms of a shocked James Worthy, who turned and dribbled out the remaining seconds, sealing not only the championship, but a few legacies as well.
What has always stayed with me is not the game winning shot by a very young Michael Jordan just seconds earlier, the lapse of judgement and execution by rock solid team leader Brown, the championship loss, or Georgetown’s 1984 title over Houston's Phi Slamma Jamma team that served as retribution of sorts.
What I remember most is Thompson, after the buzzer sounded and ignoring everything around him amidst the on court chaos, walking quietly and quickly to embrace and console his devastated player, who stood head in hands not knowing what to do or how to react to what had just happened.
It was in that moment, with his arms tightly wrapped around one of the great unsung heroes of Georgetown basketball lore, that John Thompson showed his true self.
In that moment, he showed us all that it really is about more than ourselves and our own achievements - About even more than team or personal goals.
It's about each other and about our relationships to one another.
A lesson we should all take to heart, especially now.
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