John Thompson
In the 1970s, basketball coach John Thompson (September 2, 1941-August 30, 2020) took over a moribund Georgetown basketball program and shaped it into a perennial contender in his unique style, culminating with a national championship team anchored in 1984 by center Patrick Ewing. He became the first Black coach to lead a team to the basketball men’s NCAA title.
John Thompson
Chadwick Boseman
Actor Chadwick Boseman (November 29, 1976-August 28, 2020) did a great job in depicting several real-life, as well as imagined heroes, from baseball great Jackie Robinson, to “Godfather of Soul” James Brown, to Wakandan King T’Challa, a.k.a. Black Panther, in the Marvel superhero films, to crusading attorney Thurgood Marshall. The last completed role of Boseman was in August Wilson’s “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” co-starring Viola Davis, in a soon-to-be-released Netflix film version.
Chadwick Boseman
