A Special Election for Thompson

By George Solomon
Sunday, November 9, 2008

The man on the radio Wednesday was once one of the most powerful figures in college sports. A man of principle, conviction and occasional anger. As the basketball coach at Georgetown University from 1972 to 1999, John Thompson was fighting for racial equality and other causes he believed to be just.

In 1989, when he felt the NCAA was discriminating against black athletes with what he considered an unfair entrance requirement, Proposition 42, he walked off the court in protest and missed two games.

When someone asked him nearly 25 years ago if he felt pride in being the first black coach just a victory away from an NCAA Division I basketball championship, he responded sharply. He said that was the case only because "other equally qualified African American coaches in an earlier time were not given the opportunity."

When a critic suggested that his salary at Georgetown was excessive, he replied, "I don't apologize for wanting to be rich." And when another critic said Thompson was playing the race card while recruiting a star African American player, he snapped, "It's about time I got something for being black."

But on this Wednesday afternoon, 68-year-old John Thompson, the coach turned inviting sports-talk radio host, was waxing eloquently and emotionally about the previous night's election of Barack Obama as the nation's first black president.

"The night before, when they started counting the ballots, I had as many butterflies in my stomach as when my teams played for the national championship," Thompson said in an interview Thursday. "Once I realized he would be elected, I began reflecting on my life and family and how this would have as big an impact on whites as blacks, that we have come this far.

"Not that this is a cure-all," Thompson continued. "But this one act was special -- symbolizing so many just causes and so much effort."

Thompson's guests Wednesday included Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), retired Hall of Fame basketball coach John Chaney and retired Pro Football Hall of Famer Bobby Mitchell. (In 1962, Mitchell, with Leroy Jackson and John Nisby, joined the Washington Redskins, the last team in the NFL to integrate.)

"Eleanor has done so much," Thompson said. "John Chaney stood up for things and was not afraid of confrontation. Bobby Mitchell had to break down color barriers. Remember there is no humor in racism. What he did had significant impact in this city and country."

Fifty-three years ago, Mitchell was an excellent football player at a segregated high school in Hot Springs, Ark. He was good enough to play for Arkansas, but the Razorbacks and other schools in the South were years away from recruiting black athletes. So Mitchell went to Illinois in 1954, where he became a star, and was drafted by the Cleveland Browns, for whom he played from 1958 to 1961 before being traded to the Redskins.

I asked Mitchell what went through his mind Tuesday night.

"First, I cried for two hours," he said. "Then I thought about how far we've come in this country. I thought about how when I came into the NFL there were no black coaches, general managers and quarterbacks. I thought about our progress. And now we've elected an African American president."

Has it been 21 years since Doug Williams replaced Jay Schroeder near the end of the 1987 season and took the Redskins to Super Bowl XXII? Williams threw four touchdown passes in a 42-10 Redskins victory over the Broncos, making him the first African American quarterback to be selected Super Bowl most valuable player.

In an interview this week, Williams remembered being asked in a pregame news conference how long he'd "been a black quarterback" and chuckled at the writer's choice of words. "I don't think the writer meant it to come out that way," Williams said. "My answer to him was, 'Since I left Grambling.'

"Tuesday was a great day for all of America," Williams continued. "It's one thing to talk to minority kids about what they can accomplish; it's another to tell them a black man is the president of the U.S.

"I used to ask my Grambling coach, Eddie Robinson, why he carried the American flag all over and he'd say it's the best country. No one could out-America Eddie Robinson. But when you see a black man become president, now that's something. Coach Rob must be smiling down at this."

Opponents Beware

The headline in the Examiner on Tuesday screamed, "Monday Night MELTDOWN." But the big story Monday night wasn't the Redskins' 23-6 loss to the sharper Pittsburgh Steelers but rather how so many Pittsburghers, with their gold Terrible Towels, got into FedEx Field.

Of the 90,512 fans on hand, at least a third of the crowd seemed to be wearing Steelers jerseys and waving Steelers towels. They made so much noise that Redskins running back Clinton Portis called their presence "shocking."

How did these people get tickets to a stadium supposedly sold out to Redskins diehards? EBay? StubHub? Scalpers standing on the Beltway?

For future games, here are some suggestions to keep out invaders:

· Season ticket holders must sign loyalty pledges and agree to dress for games in gaudy burgundy jackets and burgundy slacks to go along with the team's gaudy new burgundy look, approved by Jim ("Don't call me Calvin Klein") Zorn.

· Non-Redskins fans entering the stadium should be taken to a holding pen by the owners' beefy, humorless security guards, where they would be forced for six hours to listen to tapes of Vinny Cerrato's "Inside the Red Zone."

· Second offenders should be transported to another pen and be made to watch several DVDs: "The Gibbs Eras I and II," "Marty Schottenheimer's Greatest Speeches" and "FedEx Firefighters Save the World (or 12 Cars)."

· Ticket holders caught selling their tickets should be shipped en masse, with members of the WRC-TV sports staff, to tour mansions belonging to Chris Cooley and Fred Smoot, and forced to do yardwork. No pictures, please.

· Second offenders caught selling their tickets should be bused to the local Six Flags of America and spend three hours on the roller coaster with the guys who dress up as Hogs.

· If that doesn't work, just sell the stadium to Jerry Jones.

Touching the Bases

I like the old Nationals uniforms, as well as the new ones that were unveiled Thursday except for the "patriotic" jersey that looks like Rocky Balboa's boxing trunks. I agree with Manager Manny Acta, who replied when asked about the significance of uniforms, "I'd rather win." . . .

The Wizards need Gilbert Arenas, and the Caps need Alex Ovechkin to start scoring. The Terps were disappointing losing to Our Hokies. And when can I go to Laurel and play the horses and slots?

Have a comment or question? Reach me attalkback@washpost.com.