This Saturday at Verizon Center, during the Georgetown game vs. Marquette, the University will honor the 1984 Men’s Basketball National Championship team on their 25th anniversary. The championship game was played at the Kingdome in Seattle, Washington on April 2, 1984 when Georgetown defeated the Houston Cougars 84-75. The Cougars were led by All-American center Akeem Olajuwon (in college he spelled his first name without the “H”). Almost all of the current Georgetown undergraduate students weren’t even born on April 2, 1984, so we have compiled a small list of things that every Hoya fan should know about that excellent team. We’ll unveil one each day this week, leading up to the big game on Saturday.

JT2

The Georgetown Hoyas head coach in 1984 was John Thompson, the father of the Hoyas’ current coach. Coach Thompson became the coach of the Hoyas in the fall on 1972; 12 seasons later he had led a program from obscurity to the summit of college basketball. When Georgetown won the championship, John Thompson became the first African American head coach to win a basketball National Championship. Coach Thompson was a pioneer for African Americans, and in addition to his success on the court, he was a prominent and outspoken advocate for social justice, and still is.