Jeff Goodman hosts an array of former players like Gene Smith, Horace Broadnax, Jaren Jackson, Mark Tillmon and Jerome Williams to tribute the late John Thompson, who passed away on Aug. 31. Thompson elevated a dead Georgetown basketball program to national prominence after taking over the program in 1972 and led the program until 1999. His Black teams and advocacy for his players in the face of institutional prejudice, particularly the racism suffered by Patrick Ewing, led him to become an icon in the eyes of Black Americans. Some even described mistaking Georgetown University for an HBCU because of the team's starring role in the Big East craze, and Syracuse-Georgetown rivalry of the 1980s. Thompson played for the Boston Celtics as Bill Russell's backup and spent the final years of his life commentating.