Learning Resources Division: Freshman Book Series: 2021-2022: I Came as a Shadow

I Came as a Shadow

The Freshman book selected for the Class of 2025 is I Came as a Shadow by John Thompson with Jesse Washington.

Summary

John Thompson was never just a basketball coach and "I Came As A Shadow" is categorically not just a basketball autobiography.

After five decades at the center of race and sports in America, Thompson—the iconic NCAA champion, Black activist, and educator—was ready to make the private public at last, and he completed this autobiography shortly before his death in the historically tumultuous summer of 2020. Chockful of stories and moving beyond mere stats (three Final Fours, four-time national coach of the year, seven Big East championships, 97 percent graduation rate), Thompson’s book drives us through his childhood under Jim Crow segregation to our current moment of racial reckoning. We experience riding shotgun with Celtics icon Red Auerbach and coaching NBA Hall of Famers like Patrick Ewing and Allen Iverson. What were the origins of the the phrase “Hoya Paranoia”? You’ll see. And parting his veil of secrecy, Thompson brings us into his negotiation with a D.C. drug kingpin in his players’ orbit in the 1980s, as well as behind the scenes of his years on the Nike board.

Thompson’s mother was a teacher who had to clean houses because of racism in the nation's capital. His father could not read or write. Their son grew up to be a man with his own larger-than-life statue in a building that bears his family’s name on a campus once kept afloat by the selling of 272 enslaved Black people. This is a great American story, and John Thompson’s experience sheds light on many of the issues roiling our nation. In these pages, he proves himself to be the elder statesman whose final words college basketball and the country need to hear.

** From the publisher

Themes

The book looks at the following themes:

Coaching and Mentorship
Code-Switching
Identity and Blackness
Institutional and Structural Racism
Family, Community, and Belonging
Injustice and Social Action
Struggle and Perseverance
Love and Personal Growth
Education
Sports and Identity
Stereotypes

Author Information

Basketball Hall of Famer John Thompson's name is synonymous with success, as is the program he built at Georgetown University. Whether the yardstick used to measure that success is overall wins (596- 239), post season appearances (24 consecutive), graduation rate (97%- 76 of 78 students who stayed four years) or players drafted by the NBA (26, 8 in the first round), Coach Emeritus John Thompson built a winner. He established a program which has been a standard bearer for the BIG EAST Conference with League leading records vs. all conference opponents (233-122), vs. Conference opponents in regular season play, (199-107) in post season play (34-15) and in Conference championships (7 regular season, 6 tournament). His teams have: won a National Championship (1984), appeared in three Final Fours (1982, 1984, 1985) and played in 20 NCAA Tournaments, 14 appearances being consecutive.

He was named "Coach of the Year" a total of seven times. The BIG EAST Conference, in the 1991-92 season named him Coach of the Year for the third time (having previously awarded him this title in 1979-80 and 1986-87). The United States Basketball Writers Association and "The Sporting News" recognized him in 1983-84. The National Association of Basketball Coaches acknowledged him in 1984-85 and United Press International chose him in 1986-87.

The 1988 Olympic Head Coach in Men's Basketball for the USA, his team captured a bronze medal in Seoul. Mr. Thompson was also an assistant coach for the 1976 Olympic team, which won a Gold Medal in Montreal and was a member of the selection committee for the 1984 Olympic team, which won a gold medal in Los Angeles.

A major figure in and out of the coaching profession, John Thompson is a past president of the National Association of Basketball Coaches and has served on their board of directors. He is a trustee of the Basketball Hall of Fame. He has been a consultant and spokesman for Nike and is a member of its board of directors. He is one of the founders of 4-H in the nation's capital. He established Georgetown's "Kids and Cops" program, which annually gives away 10,000 tickets to Hoya basketball games. His protest of "proposition 42" focused national attention on issues of economic and educational discrimination.

Mr. Thompson's bachelor degree from Providence College was in economics, but he also holds a master's degree in guidance and counseling from the University of the District of Columbia. He has received honorary degrees from Georgetown University, St. Peter's College, Wheeling College and most recently from the University of the District of Columbia. He holds the titles of Coach Emeritus and Presidential Consultant for Urban Affairs at Georgetown University. He has received the two highest awards which Georgetown University can confer: the President's Award and the Patrick Healy Award.

Prior to his arrival at Georgetown, John Thompson was a highly successful high school coach, amassing a record of 122-28 at St. Anthony's High School in Washington DC. Before that, he played on two Boston Celtic World Championship teams under the tutelage of fellow Hall of Famer, Red Auerbach. While attending Providence College, Thompson led the Friars to the NIT Championship in 1963 and was named "New England Player of the Year" in the following season. The Providence College Student Congress named him "Most Outstanding Senior". Before college, Thompson led his John Carroll High School team to 55 consecutive victories and two city championships.

From Georgtown.edu

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Walk-On Warrior: Drive, Discipline, and the Will to Win Small town. Undersized. Not enough talent. John Willkom heard it all as a young basketball player growing up in rural Wisconsin. Despite the odds, John dedicated his life to the game, an arduous journey that challenged the very core of even the most disciplined. As John's hard work lands him amongst basketball's elite, it is the workouts, the people, and the behind-the-scenes interactions that not only change his skill set but how he lives his life. Both heartfelt and funny, Walk-On Warrior takes you into the mind of an athlete from John's perspective. Take a journey that will reignite your passion for life, challenge your perspectives on toughness and fear, and ultimately, inspire you to maximize your talent.

Co-author Interview

Discussion Questions

I Came as a Shadow is an autobiography that provokes a lot of discussion about institutional racism, coaching, education, and perseverance among other topics. Here are a few discussion questions to get you started talking about the book.

The title of the book comes from a poem by the John Thompson's uncle. How do you interpret its meaning?
What role does education play in Coach Thompson's life? What value does he place on education?
Coach Thompson called the basketball court his classroom, how does he teach using basketball?
Coach Thompson's father never learned to read. What impact do you think that had on Coach Thompson's life?
The NBA used a "quota system" to limit the number of Black players. How do you see quotas existing today?
Street basketball plays a large role in Coach Thompson's life. How do recreational sports play a role in your life?
How does institutional and systematic racism appear in the book? What role and impact does it have on Coach Thompson?
This is an autobiography of a basketball coach. Does the sport actually matter in how your read and understand the book?
Coach Thompson is clear that his goal is to win games. How does that influence his coaching and behavior around his players?
Coach Thompason doesn't apologize for using the "n-word"? Why? How does he use it?
John Thompson has a degree from UDC. What does that mean to you?

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ISBN: 1617030449
Publication Date: 2011-05-31
With contributions by Prosper Godonoo, Urla Hill, C. Richard King, David J. Leonard, Jack Lule, Murry Nelson, David C. Ogden, Robert W. Reising, and Joel Nathan Rosen Reconstructing Fame: Sport, Race, and Evolving Reputations includes essays on Jackie Robinson, Roberto Clemente, Curt Flood, Paul Robeson, Jim Thorpe, Bill Russell, Tommie Smith, and John Carlos. The essayists in this volume write about twentieth-century athletes whose careers were affected by racism and whose post-career reputations have improved as society's understanding of race changed. Contributors attempt to clarify the stories of these sports stars and their places as twentieth-century icons by analyzing the various myths that surround them. When media, fans, sports leagues, and the athletes themselves commemorate sports legends, shifts in popular perceptions often serve to obscure an athlete's role in history. Such revisions can lack coherence and trivialize the efforts of some legendary competitors and those associated with them. Adding racial tensions to this process further complicates the task of preserving the valuable achievements of key players.
Sport and the Color Line by Patrick B. Miller (Editor); David K. Wiggins (Editor)
ISBN: 0415946107
Publication Date: 2003-11-26
The year 2003 marks the one-hundredth anniversary of W.E.B. Du Bois' "Souls of Black Folk," in which he declared that "the color line" would be the problem of the twentieth century. Half a century later, Jackie Robinson would display his remarkable athletic skills in "baseball's great experiment." Now, "Sport and the Color Line" takes a look at the last century through the lens of sports and race, drawing together articles by many of the leading figures in Sport Studies to address the African American experience and the history of race relations. The history of African Americans in sport is not simple, and it certainly did not begin in 1947 when Jackie Robinson first donned a Brooklyn Dodgers uniform. The essays presented here examine the complexity of black American sports culture, from the organization of semi-pro baseball and athletic programs at historically black colleges and universities, to the careers of individual stars such as Jack Johnson and Joe Louis, to the challenges faced by black women in sports. What are today's black athletes doing in the aftermath of desegregation, or with the legacy of Muhammad Ali's political stance? The essays gathered here engage such issues, as well as the paradoxes of corporate sport and the persistence of scientific racism in the athletic realm.
Who's Afraid of Post-Blackness? by Touré (Narrated by); Michael Eric Dyson (Foreword by)
ISBN: 1439177554
Publication Date: 2011-09-13
How do we make sense of what it means to be Black in a world with room for both Michelle Obama and Precious? Tour , an iconic commentator and journalist, defines and demystifies modern Blackness with wit, authority, and irreverent humor. In the age of Obama, racial attitudes have become more complicated and nuanced than ever before. Americans are searching for new ways of understanding Blackness, partly inspired by a President who is unlike any Black man ever seen on our national stage. This book aims to destroy the notion that there is a correct or even definable way of being Black. It’s a discussion mixing the personal and the intellectual. It gives us intimate and painful stories of how race and racial expectations have shaped Tour ’s life as well as a look at how the concept of Post-Blackness functions in politics, psychology, the Black visual arts world, Chappelle’s Show, and more. For research Tour has turned to some of the most important luminaries of our time for frank and thought-provoking opinions, including Rev. Jesse Jackson, Henry Louis Gates Jr., Cornel West, Michael Eric Dyson, Melissa Harris-Lacewell, Malcolm Gladwell, Harold Ford, Jr., Kara Walker, Kehinde Wiley, Chuck D, and many others. Their comments and disagreements with one another may come as a surprise to many readers. Of special interest is a personal racial memoir by the author in which he depicts defining moments in his life when he confronts the question of race head-on. In another chapter—sure to be controversial—he explains why he no longer uses the word “nigga.” Who’s Afraid of Post-Blackness? is a complex conversation on modern America that aims to change how we perceive race in ways that are as nuanced and spirited as the nation itself.

Research Resources

Arts & Humanities Database This link opens in a new window
This database features hundreds of titles covering Art, Architecture, Design, History, Philosophy, Music, Literature, Theater, and Cultural Studies.
Associates Programs Source Plus This link opens in a new window
More than 2,200 full-text journal titles and more than 360 full-text books including coverage in the following areas which align with UDC programs: general business, architecture, home & houses, aerospace sciences, general technology, telecommunications, construction & building, industrial technology, accounting & tax, computer science, law, educational assessment & evaluation, educational levels, fashion & style, visual arts, hospitality industry, hotel & restaurant management, recreation & leisure studies, travel, law enforcement industry, law enforcement & intelligence, social sciences & humanities, funeral services industry, music, allied health, health & medicine, medical administration & management, medical care & services.
Black Economic Empowerment: The National Negro Business League This link opens in a new window
Booker T. Washington, founder of the National Negro Business League, believed that solutions to the problem of racial discrimination were primarily economic, and that bringing African Americans into the middle class was the key. In 1900, he established the League "to promote the commercial and financial development of the Negro," and headed it until his death.
Black Life in America This link opens in a new window
The experience of African Americans as recorded by the news media, 1704 to today. This primary source collection offers an expansive window into centuries of African American history, culture and daily life—as well as the ways the dominant culture has portrayed and perceived people of African descent. The content in this database is sourced from more than 19,000 American and global news sources, including over 400 current and historical Black publications.
Dig DC This link opens in a new window
Dig DC is your web portal for selected digitized and born-digital items from DC Public Library Special Collections, including the Washingtoniana collections and the Black Studies Center at Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library in downtown Washington, D.C. and the Peabody Room at the Georgetown Neighborhood Library.
Ebony Magazine Archive This link opens in a new window
Covers civil rights, education, entrepreneurship, and other social topics with an African-American focus. It includes more than 800 issues providing a broad view of African-American culture from its first issue in 1945 through 2014.
Education Database This link opens in a new window
ProQuest Education Journals offers complete information on hundreds of educational topics and gives users access to over 790 top educational publications, including more than 615 of the titles in full text.
Education Research Complete This link opens in a new window
Education Research Complete is the definitive online resource for education research. Topics covered include all levels of education from early childhood to higher education, and all educational specialties, such as multilingual education, health education, and testing. Education Research Complete provides indexing and abstracts for more than 2,100 journals, as well as full text for more than 1,200 journals, and includes full text for nearly 500 books and monographs.
ERIC This link opens in a new window
ERIC is published by the U.S. Department of Education. It is the largest education database in the world.
Opposing Viewpoints In Context This link opens in a new window
The premier online resource covering today's hottest social issues, from Offshore Drilling to Climate Change, Health Care to Immigration. Opposing Viewpoints in Context helps students research, analyze and organize a broad variety of data for conducting research, completing writing assignments, preparing for debates, creating presentations and more.
Project MUSE - Standard Collection This link opens in a new window
Journals in literature and criticism, history, the visual and performing arts, cultural studies, education, political science, gender studies, economics, and many others.
Project MUSE is a unique collaboration between libraries and publishers, providing 100% full-text, affordable and user-friendly online access to a comprehensive selection of prestigious humanities and social sciences journals. MUSE's online journal collections support a diverse array of research needs at academic, public, special and school libraries worldwide. Our journals are heavily indexed and peer-reviewed, with critically acclaimed articles by the most respected scholars in their fields. MUSE is also the sole source of complete, full-text versions of titles from many of the world's leading university presses and scholarly societies. Currently, MUSE provides full-text access to current content from over 400 titles representing nearly 100 not-for-profit publishers.
Social Science Database This link opens in a new window
The database includes over 570 titles, with more than 340 available in full text. It provides information on hundreds of topics, including: addiction studies, urban studies, family studies, and international relations.
Social Sciences Full Text This link opens in a new window
Subjects Covered: Addiction Studies, Anthropology, Area Studies, Community Health & Medical Care, Corrections, Criminal Justice, Criminology, Economics, Environmental Studies, Ethics, Family Studies, Gender Studies, Geography, Gerontology, International Relations, Law, Minority Studies, Planning & Public Administration, Policy Sciences, Political Science, Psychiatry, Psychology, Public Welfare, Social Work, Sociology, Urban Studies.

Instructor Resources

The ideas in the tabs above act as prompts to help you develop discussions, projects, or assignments related to I Came as a Shadow. They offer suggestions for ideas to include in your class or on your syllabus.

Here are some tips for leading a successful book discussion:

Before the Discussion

Read the book completely and take notes about the themes, motifs, and topics. Write down important page numbers and highlight important passages.
Come up with eight to ten questions about the book.

During the Discussion

Ask your question and let others answer first.
Make connections between comments.
Ask follow-up questions.
Bring the conversation back to the discussion if people go off on tangents.
Don't feel obligated to ask all your questions.
Don't end a conversation if people are on-topic and really enjoying what they are sharing.
Wrap up the discussion by highlighting key points.
Thank the participants.

The following may be used as project prompts for I Came as a Shadow:

Create your dream team of mentors and coaches. Explain why you need each of them as your players.
Draft a proposal to protest a policy you think is unfair.
Create a playlist of songs representing the different eras of Coach Thompson's life. Explain why you picked each song.
John Thompson wore a towel over his shoulder to honor his mother. What props do you use in life? Who do they honor? Why?
Map out Coach Thompson's life in DC. How does it overlap with your life?
The title of the book comes from a poem. What poem would provide a line to the title of your life? Why?

The following may be used as writing prompts for I Came as a Shadow:

Discuss institutional racism. What is it? What impacts does it have on your life?
How do you define yourself versus how others see you or stereotype you?
What do you think it would have been like to play for Coach Thompson? Why?
What were you most shocked to read or learn? Why?
Share a favorite quote from the book. Why did this quote stand out?
What aspects of the author’s story could you most relate to?
If you got the chance to ask the author of this book one question, what would it be?
What do you consider to be Coach Thompson's most enduring legacy? Why?

Freshman Book Series