Word: thompson
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...embrace of John Thompson, 6-ft. 5-in. Fred Brown seemed unimaginably little, childlike and blameless. For a moment, so did college basketball, which is saying something. These days, a coach or recruiter is considered honest if he has never stolen a stove that's still hot. Then, in one hug last week, there was redemption. The losing coach, Georgetown's mountainous Thompson, wrapped his arms nearly twice around Brown, the Georgetown player who had just thrown a pass and the championship away. As if Brown were on a ledge, Thompson held him tenderly beside the court, while...
Ewing is not 3 ft. high, and the fussing around Georgetown throughout the tournament was enough to prompt Coach Thompson to house his team 87 miles from New Orleans in Biloxi, Miss., making him the first black on record to move to Biloxi for peace of mind. First-black distinctions are not what move him, however. When someone asked how it felt to be the first black coach in the Final Four, Thompson snorted: "I resent the hell out of that question. It implies I am the first black to be accomplished enough and intelligent enough to get here...
...thick before the final. Then the game began, and the rancor melted. The real surprise was not how stirring every minute of the game was, but how appealing every participant in it seemed, even the coaches. "I was outcoached tonight," Smith tried to say in victory afterward, but Thompson wouldn't let him. "That man's forgotten more basketball than I know...
...previous Final Fours had neglected to win the championship. So no body begrudged him his moment above the basket after 20 years. Or one all-out "hugger" - "that's when you run into the dressing room afterward," he explained, "and hug everybody." To Smith, "every body" naturally included Thompson. The warmth between them traces to when Thompson was the high school coach and guardian of a player recruited by Caroli na. Smith's concern for the boy, who never achieved much as a player, touched Thompson. Later, when Smith coached the 1976 Olympic team in Montreal, Thompson assisted...
...peripheral vision is usually good," he said quietly over and over, "but it failed me." Thompson, observing from across the locker room, said softly: "It's a hard lesson in a national championship, but it's part of his maturity and educational devel opment." For a moment, education re turned to college basketball...