When he became head coach at Georgetown University in 1972, a fellow high school coach sent John Thompson a copy of the poem, "The Ladder of St. Augustine", by Henry Longfellow. In part, it reads:

"The heights by great men reached and kept
Were not attained by sudden flight,
But they, while their companions slept
Were toiling upward in the night."

John Thompson was not an overnight success. His growth, and that of the University, was a confluence of hard work and a commitment to be the best it could be, when few saw the opportunity. His 27 years as head coach reshaped the role of basketball at Georgetown University and elevated him to a place of honor and respect in fields far removed from the basketball court.

Born to a working class family in 1941, John R. Thompson, Jr. grew up in segregated housing in Anacostia before moving to northwest Washington in the early 1950's. As a child, he struggled in school and was labeled as uneducable by teachers, only to find that his poor eyesight was the cause for his struggle in the classroom. By the age of 14 he ended up earning a scholarship to Archbishop Carroll High School, the first integrated Catholic high school in Washington. Joined by fellow All-Met selections in Walt Skinner, Ed (Monk) Malloy, Tom Hoover and George Leftwich, Thompson and the Carroll Lions won 55 straight games over his final two seasons. Widely considered the greatest high school team in Washington DC history, the Lions were the talk of high school basketball and Thompson was named a second team Parade All-America selection. He received scholarship offers from St. John's, Syracuse, Boston College, St. Joseph's and Notre Dame, among others, while other schools (including Georgetown) passed on Thompson due to ongoing segregation in college basketball. With interest from Washington DC basketball legend and Boston Celtics general manager Red Auerbach, Thompson enrolled at Providence College, a nod to the territorial draft system that could provide Thompson a future career with the Celtics.

Averaging 32 points a game under freshman coach Dave Gavitt, Thompson joined the Providence varsity in 1961. In his three seasons, the Friars were 64-16, winning the 1963 NIT title and earning the school's first ever NCAA berth in 1964. Thompson ended his senior season as an All-America selection and New England Player of the Year, averaging 26 points and 14 rebounds a game. He was drafted in the third round by the Celtics in 1964, but had little choice but to be a backup to five time NBA MVP Bill Russell, and as such Thompson played sparingly on two NBA title teams as a result. In 1966, Thompson was relegated to the dispersal draft to staff the expansion Chicago Bulls, but chose not to relocate his young family there. At 25, his pro career was over, but with his economics degree from Providence, he set out on the next step of his journey.

Thompson arrived at Georgetown in 1972 at the age of 30, following six years as the head coach at Washington DC's St. Anthony HS, taking the Tonies to a combined record of 122-28. Featuring a lineup made up largely of players he coached at St. Anthony, Thompson led the Hoyas to a 12-14 record in his first season. Early years were not smooth sailing for the team, with a cumulative record of 31-36 into February 1974. The team caught fire by winning eight of its final nine, qualifying for the fist ever ECAC-South basketball tournament. A last second shot by sophomore Derrick Jackson propelled the Hoyas to the tournament title and its first NCAA bid in 32 years.

The 1970's built the foundation for the Georgetown teams that excelled under Thompson's leadership: dedicated, disciplined, and a reflection of its no-nonsense coach. Sports Illustrated, a frequent combatant with Thompson, called them "rough, tough, and terrific." Thompson wanted winners, but freely expressed he didn't want to recruit players who were not serious about getting an college degree. A deflated basketball, symbolic of the end of a sports career, was on display in his office to pose the question--when your career is done, do you have an education? Thompson and the program took pride in statistics which announced that all but two seniors had graduated from the program since 1972, and had little tolerance for those who did not, with those players usually asked to leave well before their last year.

Georgetown won three of the first five ECAC-South titles, with a school best 24-5 record in 1979 before joining the Big East Conference. Over the next decade, Georgetown was ascendant as never before, winning six Big East titles, appearing in three Final Fours, two finalist appearances, and the 1984 NCAA national championship, a 12 year ascension that seemed completely unlikely given the state of the program when he arrived.

John Thompson quickly became one of the most recognizable figures in college sports. Loved in some quarters, hated in others, Thompson was unapologetic for the program he created. "I will take suggestions from people I respect," he said in 1984, "but it's true that I completely ignore the people I don't respect."

"I'm not St. John, but I'm not the devil either."

With a record in he 1980's of 269-69 (.795), John Thompson was among the winningest coaches in the nation. But he was also among the most prominent black men in sports, a visible symbol to an entire generation of urban America. When he spoke, people took notice.

During the 1988-89 season, during NCAA legislation that would have barred schools from offering scholarship aid to recruits below a 2.0 GPA and 700 SAT, Thompson walked off the court at Capital Centre at the start of its January 14, 1989 game versus Providence , saying he had "a moral obligation with what I believe in and what I coach for." Thompson's decision did what months of NCAA committee meetings could not--shed light on a rule change which would have arbitrarily ruled out college for a large number or recruits, regardless of the entrance requirements of a university. The NCAA withdrew the proposal soon thereafter, and Thompson returned to the bench within two weeks.

A few weeks later, Thompson appeared on a nationally televised town hall on crime in the D.C. community. "There was a hush when he got up to speak on Nightline," recalled former Washington Post columnist Michael Wilbon. "It was like Martin Luther King [Jr.] was going to speak, I kid you not." Later that summer, when Rayful Edmond, a notorious Washington drug dealer who was seen associating with two players, Thompson called him to his office at McDonough Gymnasium and told him in no uncertain terms to back off his players.

Wrote a columnist at SB Nation, Thompson "single-handedly scared the s--- out of one of the most infamous drug dealers in U.S. history."

Having turned down a multi-million dollar offer to be general manager of the NBA's Denver Nuggets in the summer of 1990, Thompson entered his third decade as Georgetown coach. Georgetown continued to be a national power throughout the 1990's even if the teams of this decade didn't match up to the success of his predecessors. The Hoyas were 6-0 in Big East championship finals from 1980 to 1989, but 0-4 in the 1990's, losing two of these games in the final moments. Thompson took the Hoyas to six NCAA bids and two NIT's from 1991 to 1998, but none advanced to the Final Four. The decade peaked during the two years of Allen Iverson (1994-96), advancing to the 1996 NCAA regional final versus #1-ranked Massachusetts, but Iverson's departure for the NBA Draft ended a long running tradition under Thompson; namely, that Georgetown players stayed four years before pursuing the NBA.

Thompson's teams of the 1990's struggled with transfers - then, as before, Thompson had little patience with players who were not maintaining their studies. But having missed out on a number of top freshmen earlier in the decade, the Hoyas lacked depth. Its 1997-98 team was hard hit, with the loss of one starting guard before the season and one who quit the team mid-season, and the Hoyas finished with a 16-15 record, its worst since 1974. Two months into a 1998-99 season that had the Hoyas at 7-6, Thompson shocked the sports world by unexpectedly resigning on Jan. 8, 1999, citing personal issues around a divorce after 35 years of marriage. Assistant coach Craig Esherick was elected to head coach following the resignation.

"John Thompson's retirement is a huge loss for Georgetown and a huge loss for the Big East," said conference commissioner Mike Tranghese. "His contributions to the university and to college basketball are immense. I hope John feels he is making the right decision for himself. I am really pleased for the opportunity given to Craig [Esherick]. It's great that Georgetown has entrusted its program to him."

Thompson made it clear that he was not retiring, but he did not return to coaching, enjoying two decades as an elder statesman. He was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1999. He also surprised many in the press by opting to host a daily sports talk show, one which became the most popular afternoon show in the city and was hosted for 12 years. He served as a radio analyst for NCAA tournament games for two decades and maintained a seat on the Nike board of directors through 2020. Thompson maintained an office at Georgetown and was frequently seen at practices and games of his three successors, all of which were closely aligned with his vision and expectation for the program.

In 2015, the University named its new basketball practice facility in honor of Thompson, with a life-sized statue in the rotunda of the public area.

In June 2020, Thompson completed a long-awaited autobiography, three months before his death on August 31, 2020, two days short of his 79th birthday.

Year	Post-Season	Record	Pct.	Home	Away	B.E. Tourn	NCAA/NIT
1972-73		12-14	0.462	9-4	3-10
1973-74		13-13	0.500	12-5	1-8
1974-75	NCAA	18-10	0.643	13-2	5-7		0-1
1975-76	NCAA	21-7	0.750	14-2	7-4		0-1
1976-77	NIT	19-9	0.679	13-1	6-7		0-1
1977-78	NIT	23-8	0.742	15-0	6-6		2-2
1978-79	NCAA	24-5	0.828	13-2	11-2		0-1
1979-80	NCAA	26-6	0.813	13-2	8-2	3-0	2-1
1980-81	NCAA	20-12	0.625	11-2	8-5	1-1	0-1
1981-82	NCAA	30-7	0.811	17-1	6-3	3-0	4-1
1982-83	NCAA	22-10	0.688	12-3	9-4	0-1	1-1
1983-84	NCAA	34-3	0.919	14-2	12-1	3-0	5-0
1984-85	NCAA	35-3	0.921	15-1	13-1	3-0	4-1
1985-86	NCAA	24-8	0.750	12-1	10-5	1-1	1-1
1986-87	NCAA	29-5	0.853	15-1	8-3	3-0	3-1
1987-88	NCAA	20-10	0.667	12-2	7-6	0-1	1-1
1988-89	NCAA	29-5	0.853	14-0	9-4	3-0	3-1
1989-90	NCAA	24-7	0.774	12-2	10-3	1-1	1-1
1990-91	NCAA	19-13	0.594	9-4	7-6	2-1	1-1
1991-92	NCAA	22-10	0.688	10-3	9-4	2-1	1-1
1992-93	NIT	20-13	0.606	13-3	2-8	1-1	4-1
1993-94	NCAA	19-12	0.613	12-2	4-8	2-1	1-1
1994-95	NCAA	21-10	0.677	11-2	7-5	1-1	2-1
1995-96	NCAA	29-8	0.784	16-0	8-5	2-1	3-1
1996-97	NCAA	20-10	0.667	11-3	7-4	1-1	0-1
1997-98	NIT	16-15	0.516	12-4	2-8	1-1	1-1
1998-99		7-6	0.538	5-2	2-4
Totals		596-239	.713	336-69	187-133	33-13	40-24