NBA on TNT crew honors John Thompson with iconic towel look

The tributes poured in for John Thompson on Monday, but it was the NBA on TNT crew that found the most fitting way to end the day.

NBA on TNT crew drapes towels for Thompson

Thompson, the Hall of Fame Georgetown basketball coach, died at the age of 78. He was the first Black coach to win an NCAA championship and was known to have a towel over his shoulder while coaching.

After brief comments in memoriam, Ernie Johnson handed out towels to Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley on the NBA on TNT set. (H/T For The Win)

Tributes pour in for Thompson

The tributes poured in for Thompson, the legendary coach who took the Hoyas to the 1984 NCAA title.

He was called “the real life Black Panther” by former WJLA sports anchor Lou Holder just days after the death of Chadwick Boseman, who played the Black Panther in Marvel movies.

Allen Iverson, who played two seasons for Thompson, was among the many who honored the coach in a social media post. He thanked Thompson for “saving my life,” which he had also done 90 seconds into his own Hall of Fame enshrinement speech.

Barkley spoke first on Thompson’s legacy during the Monday night broadcast.

The rest of the crew gave their own comments on Thompson in the full 10-minute conversation. They noted that he took offense, Johnson said, when people said he was the first Black coach to win a title because it ignores the ones before him who were talented enough to do so. He called himself, Smith said, the “first coach from New England to win it.”

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