John Thompson literally took a program from nothing and made into one of the very best programs in the 1980s. In addition to the national title and three Final Fours, really impressive that he led the Hoyas to 6 Regional Finals in the 80s.
Between his friendship with Jerry’s good friend Sonny Vaccaro, and his own interest in gambling (particularly the slot machines) no surprise the Hoyas and Rebels played each other several times.
Perhaps the best game came at the Convention Center in the 80-81 season. The NBC TV crew prevented the pregame light show from occurring. A back and forth 2nd half saw a Larry Anderson long range jumper put the Rebels up a point. Spiderman Burns was called for a foul on a Georgetown player who hit both free throws to put the Hoyas up a point with a couple of seconds left.
Jerry called a time out and drew up a Grant Hill to Christian Laettner play against Kentucky. Rebel big man Michael Johnson was at the foul line and sandwiched by two Hoya players. Coming out of the time out and seeing this Jerry even told the refs to watch for a foul. While trying to receive the ball Johnson was in fact fouled by Fred Brown, but Art White (lousy referee) somehow called the foul on Johnson and the Hoyas went on to win.
Jerry literally lost it seeing this. Even John Thompson after the game said he thought Brown fouled Johnson.
Regarding the infamous game in 83 at the Thomas & Mack Center the interesting thing is how close the game came to imploding. UNLV really wanted a marquee opponent to play early in the season to showcase the new arena. Georgetown agreed to a home and home series and CBS agreed to air the game on a Friday night primetime out west, 11:30 back east which would be unheard of today for a regular season game.
A couple of weeks before the game Jerry tried to pull a fast one and had Brad Rothermel call Georgetown and tell them that based on the Rebels schedule for 84-85 they rematch in Landover would need to be moved to 85-86. John quickly realized what was going on as Patrick Ewing among others would have graduated giving the Rebels a better chance.
Knowing Thompson was negotiating out of a position of strength, he threatened to call the whole thing off. Rothermel quickly scrambled and paid Wyoming either $50,000 or $60,000 to cancel their game scheduled around the date so UNLV could make the trip to DC in December 84.
Unfortunately the game in DC in 84 was even worse then just about anyone could have envisioned. Off the top of my head that game was probably the only time I can remember one of Jerry’s teams going in intimidated. If not the worst loss of his career it is right near the top. After the game Jerry had the great line that he’ll always remember December 7th as the day Pearl Harbor was bombed, and December 8th as the day the Rebels were bombed.
While they met again in the 91 tournament the two almost played another series in 90-91. Georgetown though had limited dates available in December 89, and the one they came close to agreeing on was too close to another game on Georgetown’s schedule so things fell through. Arkansas ended up replacing Georgetown. Hoyas still managed to play a game at the Thomas & Mack against Northern Iowa right around the first of the year.
The two things I will always remember about John were how hard his teams played and the bond he had with his players. In the 80’s, early 90s, Dick Vitale would always say the three teams you better be prepared for because they play so hard were Indiana, UNLV and Georgetown. That full court press, particular in the 80’s, could really overwhelm the opposition. For it to be so successful though those guys had to play with maximum effort, and they did it consistently.
Regarding loyalty with his players there are already several good stories out there, but saw one first hand with former Rebel, Anthony Jones. Jones was a big time high school prospect, McDonald’s All-American, out of Dunbar High School who played his first two seasons at Georgetown but decided to transfer.
John called Jerry personally and discussed meeting with he and Jones over the potential transfer. They met at the old Barbary Coast and Jones committed to UNLV. Not only did John accompany Jones out to Las Vegas for the meeting, but even after leaving Georgetown he stayed in communication with Jones throughout his time at UNLV. Said a lot about what kind of man Thompson was.
