Post by drquigley on Mar 20, 2017 15:04:25 GMT -5
I thought long and hard before posting this but I think it is something that really needs to be discussed. I hope we can do it in a sensible, respectful manner. So here goes.
Back in the 1960's our basketball program was pretty typical for a small, private Mid Atlantic Catholic University. The players, like the student body, were white. The facilities were basic. And the goals were modest. Schools like Niagara, Sienna, Canisius, Duquesne, St. Bonaventure were still competitive and locally GU, GW, and AU were all considered equals. But things changed when all black Texas Western defeated all white Kentucky. While most schools had one or two black players, the idea of all black teams was unheard of. After all, we (white people) knew that black athletes were too undisciplined, too unsophisticated, okay too dumb, to play championship D1 college basketball or to challenge the white basketball hierarchy. But Texas Western showed that black athletes could hold their own on the court and maybe, just maybe, our opinions of African Americans in general, not just African American athletes, needed to change.
I still remember the GU-Syracuse game at McDonough in probably 1965 or 1966. Back then the gym was usually packed for home games and the half court bleachers were called the “Animal Section”. We students acted like idiots and attendance at our games pretty much reflected the makeup of the school and student body - male, white, and heavily NY/NJ/Conn. But as the stands filled up that day I noticed something different. There was a large number of African Americans streaming in. They were coming to see local Spingarn hero Dave Bing play. And they were filling “our” gym. Syracuse, and Bing (as well as a goofy looking player named Boeheim), killed us scoring I believe the first 18 points of the game. And more importantly, the game cemented the feeling that had been growing on campus that GU basketball needed to start recruiting local DC area black kids if it wished to be anything more than a slightly southern version of Fordham or Holy Cross.
We know the rest of the story. GU not only recruited it’s first black basketball player, Bernie White, in 1966 but its first black coach in 1972. That new coach, John Thompson Jr. however viewed the GU basketball program, and his role as its head, to be about more than winning basketball games. He wanted the program to compete on the national stage as well as to provide an opportunity for African American kids to get a valued college education and to understand that there was more to life than basketball. He also wanted his players, his program and himself to be treated with respect. He wanted GU basketball to serve as a role model for minority kids and a point of pride for America’s African American community. He succeeded beyond what many of us ever thought possible. Which brings us to the elephant in the room.
Any discussion of the future of JT3 and the GU basketball program has to consider what GU basketball and the Thompson family has come to mean to several generations of African Americans. We have to ask ourselves whether or not firing JT3 will be viewed as a slap in the face to them or whether, thanks to John Thompson Jr., GU basketball has moved beyond what Thompson hoped to achieve and now must hold itself to the same standard every major D! basketball program does, i.e. winning, filling arenas, placating alumni, and making money for the University. We have to ask ourselves whether the newer generation of black basketball players (and their parents) even know about or care about the Thompson family’s role in changing white attitudes toward black athletes and coaches. In short, can the University not just fire JT3 but make a complete break with the Thompson family and the Thompson GU legacy by hiring someone to replace him who has no connection to the University? This has to be what is keeping DeGoia up at night and delaying any decision on JT3’s future. Like I said, the elephant in the room.
Back in the 1960's our basketball program was pretty typical for a small, private Mid Atlantic Catholic University. The players, like the student body, were white. The facilities were basic. And the goals were modest. Schools like Niagara, Sienna, Canisius, Duquesne, St. Bonaventure were still competitive and locally GU, GW, and AU were all considered equals. But things changed when all black Texas Western defeated all white Kentucky. While most schools had one or two black players, the idea of all black teams was unheard of. After all, we (white people) knew that black athletes were too undisciplined, too unsophisticated, okay too dumb, to play championship D1 college basketball or to challenge the white basketball hierarchy. But Texas Western showed that black athletes could hold their own on the court and maybe, just maybe, our opinions of African Americans in general, not just African American athletes, needed to change.
I still remember the GU-Syracuse game at McDonough in probably 1965 or 1966. Back then the gym was usually packed for home games and the half court bleachers were called the “Animal Section”. We students acted like idiots and attendance at our games pretty much reflected the makeup of the school and student body - male, white, and heavily NY/NJ/Conn. But as the stands filled up that day I noticed something different. There was a large number of African Americans streaming in. They were coming to see local Spingarn hero Dave Bing play. And they were filling “our” gym. Syracuse, and Bing (as well as a goofy looking player named Boeheim), killed us scoring I believe the first 18 points of the game. And more importantly, the game cemented the feeling that had been growing on campus that GU basketball needed to start recruiting local DC area black kids if it wished to be anything more than a slightly southern version of Fordham or Holy Cross.
We know the rest of the story. GU not only recruited it’s first black basketball player, Bernie White, in 1966 but its first black coach in 1972. That new coach, John Thompson Jr. however viewed the GU basketball program, and his role as its head, to be about more than winning basketball games. He wanted the program to compete on the national stage as well as to provide an opportunity for African American kids to get a valued college education and to understand that there was more to life than basketball. He also wanted his players, his program and himself to be treated with respect. He wanted GU basketball to serve as a role model for minority kids and a point of pride for America’s African American community. He succeeded beyond what many of us ever thought possible. Which brings us to the elephant in the room.
Any discussion of the future of JT3 and the GU basketball program has to consider what GU basketball and the Thompson family has come to mean to several generations of African Americans. We have to ask ourselves whether or not firing JT3 will be viewed as a slap in the face to them or whether, thanks to John Thompson Jr., GU basketball has moved beyond what Thompson hoped to achieve and now must hold itself to the same standard every major D! basketball program does, i.e. winning, filling arenas, placating alumni, and making money for the University. We have to ask ourselves whether the newer generation of black basketball players (and their parents) even know about or care about the Thompson family’s role in changing white attitudes toward black athletes and coaches. In short, can the University not just fire JT3 but make a complete break with the Thompson family and the Thompson GU legacy by hiring someone to replace him who has no connection to the University? This has to be what is keeping DeGoia up at night and delaying any decision on JT3’s future. Like I said, the elephant in the room.