John Thompson, born on Sept. 2, 1941, was an NBA coach who recruited 20 players who went on to the NBA; four of those players ended up in the Hall of Fame like Thompson. Thompson, raised in Washington, D.C., played professionally and won the championship in 1965 and 1966 for the Boston Celtics. After playing professionally, Thompson was hired to coach the Georgetown University basketball team and coached them for 27 seasons. Thompson even led the U.S. Olympic basketball team to a bronze medal in 1988. Thompson walked off the court in 1989 as a way to protest about being biased against underprivileged students.

“I’ve done this because, out of frustration, you’re limited in your options of what you can do in response to something I felt was very wrong,” He told the Washington Post at the time. 

Thompson starred for Archbishop Carroll High School in Washington and served as a captain in 1964 for the school’s first NCAA tournament team. Thompson said that Red Auerbach had influenced his coaching style. Auerbach was an American professional basketball coach that inspired Thompson. 

“I’ve never been around a man who managed men in my life any better than Red Auerbach,” Thompson told NBA after Auerbach’s death in 2006. “Particularly, the egos he had to deal with, the cross cultures he had to deal with, and all the variations in the kinds of people that I saw him be associated with.”

After a while, Thompson abruptly resigned from coaching during the 1998-1999 season amid problems in his marriage. Two years earlier, he filed a divorce from his wife, Gwendolyn Thompson. After resigning, Thompson quit coaching and never came back; he had finished with a career record of 596-239. 

”You know that I’m going through a problem with my marriage right now,” Thompson said at the time. ”I owe it to my family to address that. I would be irresponsible if I didn’t address that.” 

Sadly, on August 30, Thompson passed away because of an unknown reason. He had been suffering from multiple health challenges. However, he was surrounded by friends and family when he passed away.

“This is a person that, when I came to college — I was 18 — helped me to grow,” Ewing, the current Georgetown coach, said. “Even though my mom and dad were always there, he was always a person I could pick up the phone and call if I had a problem or if I had a question.”

Thompson will be remembered as a remarkable basketball coach and person, and he will be missed. Rest in peace, John Thompson. 

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