On September 1, Beijing time, the legendary American college basketball coach John Thompson passed away at the age of 79.
"I want to write a'misunderstanding' on my tombstone." Iverson needless to say something like this.
And if there is a person who can make Boogie-like AI accept teachings convincingly, then that person must be John Thompson.
For this reason, after the Georgetown University meritorious coach and Iverson’s former teacher passed away on the first day of September, Beijing time, “Answer” once again wrote on social media what he had repeated countless times: "He saved my life."
Iverson mourned his teacher on social media.
"Thank you for saving my life, coach, I will miss you, but I am sure you will look at us from heaven with a bright smile. I am willing to give everything, just to be able to receive another call from you, I heard you say, "Hey, bastard," and then we will discuss everything except basketball." Iverson wrote next to the three college photos with Coach Thompson.
Four years ago in September, Iverson said the same thing: "I want to thank my coach, John Thompson, for saving my life."
It was at the speech ceremony when he was formally selected into the Hall of Fame. When he was speaking, the 75-year-old man was sitting not far behind him. Thompson was the first person he thanked him in the speech.
But when the two first met in 1993, it was a different story.
2016 Iverson Hall of Fame speech.
At that time, the 18-year-old Iverson had just walked out of prison.
"In the past, all universities in the United States had to recruit me into their school basketball team and school football team, but after the incident in high school, all the recruitment disappeared. There was no one. No school wanted me again."
"My mother went to Georgetown University and begged him (John Thompson) to give me a chance, and he agreed." Iverson once recalled.
And what he called "the thing in high school" happened in 1993.
On February 14, 1993, a black and white fight occurred in a bowling alley in Hampton, Virginia. The incident resulted in injuries to several white people present.
After investigation, four blacks were charged, including Iverson, who was only 17 years old.
Fighting scenes in surveillance video.
According to Iverson’s later narrative, at that time a few white boys provoked them and used "words beginning with N (nigger)". At this time, Iverson’s fellows stood up for him, and the two sides fought Together, and eventually evolved into a fight of up to 50 people.
Although Iverson himself did not admit that he attacked others with a chair and caused harm to the opponent, the video on the scene also showed that Iverson had left before the fight started. He was not the main culprit, but he insisted on the witness. , Iverson was sentenced to 15 years in prison, suspended for 10 years. If he performed well, he would only need to serve ten months in prison.
During Iverson’s trial, the white photojournalist present once recalled the scene at the time and said that although he did not sympathize with Iverson at the time, he was surprised when he heard the verdict. He thought Iverson was only Just pick up rubbish on the street for a week.
Iverson attending the trial screen.
All this was filmed in a documentary called "The Trial of Iverson" 17 years later.
Looking back now, this is just a big twist in Iverson's legendary basketball career, but when it happened, it was a disaster that really happened to the 17-year-old boy and the whole family.
Although Iverson was released on bail four months after being imprisoned by the American Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and the Court of Appeals eventually overturned the conviction on the grounds of insufficient evidence, he has almost fallen into the abyss.
As Iverson said, the school that had already extended an olive branch to him was no longer willing to accept itself. Entering the university and stepping onto a higher stage was Iverson’s hope to save the family.
When people look back at the incident many years later, although the facts are still controversial, no one will deny that everything that happened in that bowling alley was a conflict about race.
And Iverson became the biggest victim in this conflict.
In the end, as people know, it was Thompson who accepted Iverson and played the role of a mentor in his life, like a master as a father.
Iverson and Thompson.
But this may be just a part of Thompson's legendary life that is known to more people, but in fact, the impact of his life is far beyond his disciple Iverson or Ewing.
There is only one Iverson, but behind Thompson, there are countless black children born in poverty like Iverson, but hope to use sports to change their lives because of him, he will get precious opportunities, just like that beam of light projected into the darkness.
And Thompson himself is actually a more stubborn "American challenger" than the "answer".
In the hearts of many Americans, especially African Americans, John Thompson is not only a Hall of Fame coach, but also a cultural icon, an unstoppable force.
The American media claimed that it challenged the United States and won respect for it.
Thompson coached the Georgetown University men's basketball team for 27 years from 1972 to 1999.
In 27 years, he helped the team win 596 games out of 835 games and led the team to 7 Big Eastern Conference championships.
In 1984, Georgetown University under his leadership won the NCAA championship.
He stepped up the ladder and cut the Nets with his own hands and became the first black coach to win the NCAA championship.
But his influence does not come from these figures or records.
He has never coached in the NBA, because college is his real battlefield.
Here he strives for more opportunities for black students to enter colleges and challenges the racism that still pervades American society.
In 1982, when he became the first black coach to lead the NCAA Tournament Final Four, he was asked at a press conference how he felt about this achievement.
In 1984, Thompson led his team to win the NCAA championship.
His answer at that time was: "If you think this means that I am the first black coach capable of leading a team to the semi-finals, I am dissatisfied with that." "Other black and capable coaches are here. The country has been deprived of its rights. Therefore, I am not proud of being the first black coach in the semifinals. I find this problem offensive."
The American media once commented: "Those who refuse to submit to the world usually have two results: being crushed by the world, or allowing the world to submit. Thompson belongs to the latter and he changed the United States."
This may be an exaggeration, but it is true that he changed American college basketball.
He allowed more people of African descent to participate in college basketball-in a more common way, from athletes to coaches.
In this context, the Georgetown University jacket in the 1980s was even included in the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
The webpage of the National Museum of African American History and Culture provides an introduction to the collections, Georgetown University jackets in the 1980s.
Behind Thompson, Richardson, Tabby Smith and Kevin Ollie have all become black champion coaches.
Thompson also vigorously advocates for black athletes to provide more opportunities to enter college to change their lives.
Thompson's team is fully open to black students, and he not only led them to play, but also helped them become better people.
Especially in recent days, weeks or even months, Thompson’s influence is resonating on a larger scale-protests against racial inequality in basketball games continue, and professional players even refused to participate a few days ago. An easy-to-recover league, all this is just like the challenge he initiated in 1989.
At the end of August, all teams of the American Men's Basketball Professional League were on strike due to protests against racial issues.
At the opening ceremony of a home game against Boston College in January 1989, Thompson left the court to protest the NCAA's proposal to refuse to offer sports scholarships to freshmen who did not meet certain academic requirements.
Thompson did not coach in the game, but left the coaching seat to his assistant.
He believes that the rule is aimed at African-American athletes and refuses to grant them scholarships. It also prevents most African-American students who are born with a bad living environment from using sports to obtain college education.
Eventually, the opposition of Thompson and others led the NCAA to modify it.
"He stood up for us." The current Phoenix Suns coach Monty Williams said with tears when talking about Thompson.
Although they did not have much communication, like most black athletes or coaches who have experienced American college basketball, Williams could feel Thompson's strength and the changes brought about by his challenges.
In 1989 the NCAA opener Thompson left the field in protest.
Thirty-one years later, in the United States once again in the wave of racial equality, Thompson, the legendary coach known as the black king of college basketball, left.
But everything he did was passed down in another history of minority struggles.
During the coaching period, Thompson on the sidelines always used to put a white towel on his shoulders. Now, people have no chance to see this familiar scene again.
But in September after Thompson left, more white towels appeared in every corner of the United States.
The statue of John Carroll in Georgetown University was also covered with a white towel on his shoulders as a memorial.
This white towel that was once derided as a sign of "surrender" has now become a symbol of Thompson and his countless followers-Thompson is gone, and his efforts to fight for racial equality will be more people, more like him. The challenger continues.
Although he failed to change the United States, his challenges and struggles have set an example for countless people, so that they no longer remain silent about prejudice and inequality.
Just like the evaluation of the American media: the United States may not have become better, but without him, it will definitely be worse.