Georgetown's John Thompson, the first Black coach to win an NCAA title: He paved it so we had a better chance

John Thompson III had lived with his father for 14 years by 1980, which gave him plenty of time to see most sides of the man many came to know through the course of his life as “Big John”. The Georgetown Hoyas, coached by John Thompson Jr., were unable to stop Iowa's rally from 14 points down and lost when they surrendered a three-point play to Hawkeyes center Steve Waite with five seconds remaining in the game. The venue for this game had been the NCAA Tournament East Region final, which meant Georgetown had fallen a few seconds and a single point short of the program's first-ever Final Four. “That was the first time I saw my father cry,” John Thompson III told The Sporting News.