Georgetown Basketball History: History Feature
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Chapter 6: A Paradigm of Excellence

On Feb. 2, 1981, a Jamaican immigrant from Cambridge, Massachusetts accepted an offer to attend Georgetown University, and with that decision the course of Hoya basketball changed. Patrick Ewing's four years at Georgetown provided college basketball fans with one of the college game's great stars, surrounded by teammates equally committed to their best on and off the court.

An entire book could be written about Ewing's impact on Georgetown, but instead we would like to recall some of the key moments which elevated Ewing to a place in college basketball history. Most will recall his performances at the Final Four, but there were some other moments that were steppingstones in the evolution of the 7-0 center.

In January, 1982, #14 ranked Georgetown met #9-ranked St. John's in the first major doubleheader at Madison Square Garden since the 1960's. Ewing was still somewhat of an unknown commodity to many fans, often compared him with Wichita State's Greg Dreiling and UCLA's Stuart Gray as one of the better young centers in the nation.

The opener featured nationally ranked Wichita State and Iona, but the sellout crowd had come to see the St. John's freshman sensations Chris Mullin and Georgetown's Patrick Ewing. In his first of his many appearances at the Garden, Ewing and the Hoyas went on a first half run that many St. John's fans will never forget.

At one point in the first half, Georgetown led 41-9, prompting St. John's coach Lou Carnesecca to call four time outs in the first half in an attempt to halt the runaway train. The Hoyas led 41-17 at the half and crushed the #9-ranked Redmen 72-42. Few compared to Ewing to Dreiling or Gray anymore after that night in the Garden.

Two months later, the Hoyas enjoyed their first national TV game of the year at home vs. Missouri. The game was especially memorable for being the last scheduled game at McDonough gymnasium on campus, with a standing room crowd of 4,620 screaming at every turn. Near the end of the game, with the Hoyas on their way to a 61-49 upset of the #4-ranked Tigers, Ewing sped down the court for an alley-oop dunk. While a dunk would have been exciting, what happened was even more so--he missed the dunk off the rim, and the ball flew 30 feet in the air. The NBC broadcast kept showing the play over and over, marveling at the sight of the power and potential of the young center.

Though there were rumblings that the Boston Celtics would offer Ewing $1 million to leave school in 1982, his commitment to a four year education was strong. With it, the rest of the college basketball world knew what was to come.

By Ewing's sophomore year, the loss of five seniors would narrow the Hoyas' Final Four chances, as a second round loss to Memphis State attested. Still, the drumbeat for Ewing's Hoyas to play the #1-ranked Virginia cavaliers and their All-America center Ralph Sampson reached a fever pitch earlier that summer.

The "Game of the Decade" on Dec. 11, 1982 featured a sellout crowd and the first coup by a cable TV network to wrest broadcast rights from the networks-WTBS bid $550,000 to carry the game. The game was a milestone in televised sports coverage. A veteran Virginia team prevailed that night, but the lasting image of the game came after Sampson had skirted around Ewing for an easy dunk. On the next play, fans could sense Ewing wanted the ball. When he got it, and with the 7-4 Sampson lying in wait, Ewing took the ball and slammed it right over Sampson. A statement had been made, and the nation's sports public knew it.

By his junior year, the stage was set for Georgetown's run for Seattle. The arrival of Reggie Williams and Michael Graham allowed Ewing even more room to anchor the interior defense. The Hoyas fell eight points short of an undefeated regular season, with a pair of two point losses to DePaul and Villanova and a four point upset to St. John's behind 33 from Chris Mullin. Ewing averaged 23 points a game in the 1984 Big East tournament, and his 27 point, 16 rebound performance against Syracuse allowed the Hoyas to edge past the Orange in an epic title game. Yet had it not been for a forgotten play the next week against Southern Methodist in the first round of the NCAA's, the glory that awaited the Hoyas in Seattle would not have been.

SMU had controlled the first round NCAA game and kept the score low throughout. The Hoyas took the lead with seconds left 35-34 and senior Gene Smith stood at the free throw line. Smith shot sailed off the rim, but Ewing's alert play tipped the ball in for a basket. SMU raced down the court and hit a jumper to narrow the count to 37-36 at the final whistle. Had Ewing not tipped the ball in, SMU might have ended the Hoyas' Final Four story before it even started.

But the story did continue--NCAA wins over UNLV and Dayton sent the Hoyas back to the Final Four. A defensive stand against Kentucky still unrivaled in modern college basketball--the Wildcats shot 3 for 33 in the second half---led the Hoyas to the national final, where a true team effort led the Hoyas past Houston, 84-75 and avenged the heartbreaking loss to North carolina in the 1982 title game. Even though Ewing was fifth on the team in scoring that night, there was no doubt he was the MVP.

In the summer of 1984, Ewing starred as the center of the gold medal winning U.S. Olympic basketball team--the last gold medal team composed solely of college athletes. By his senior season the accolades were pouring in, from Consensus All-America (his third consecutive year), to National Player of the Year, to the cover of Sports Illustrated with Coach Thompson and President Ronald Reagan.

In 1985, as in 1984, the Hoyas were only a few points short of an undefeated season, with narrow losses to St. John's, Syracuse, and Villanova in the national final. Still, no one (with the possible exception of a few vindictive sports writers) could deny Ewing's place as the preeminent college player of the day. A 62% career shooter in college, with 2,184 points , some still doubted whether a product of the Thompson defensive system could ever become a scorer in the NBA. Ewing never doubted himself, and neither did Thompson.

The choice of which team would sign Ewing gathered national attention. The so-called "Ewing lottery" was broadcast on national TV to determine the #1 pick. The final envelope was that of the New York Knicks, and they chose him without reservation that summer.

Today, Patrick Ewing is a multimillionaire, a 12-time NBA All-Star, and recently selected among the 50 greatest players in the history of the NBA. Patrick is frequently seen on commercials, an occasional guest spot on TV shows, and has even appeared in three movies. Each summer, however, he is usually found far from the cameras and the spotlight, working out at McDonough Gymnasium against a few other Hoya alumni from the NBA.

But as he has often said, the most important moment of his collegiate career came not in the Big East or the Final Four, but in May, 1985 when Patrick A. Ewing, Class of 1985, received his bachelor's degree from Georgetown--on time, as he had promised to his mother four years earlier. His is a standard of excellence which has continued in the Hoya program to this day.

Little wonder then, that Ewing's collegiate and pro career was a role model to many kids. One of these was a high school phenom from Chesapeake, Virginia, who once placed Ewing posters in his room when growing up. Some called him the next Ewing, but that wasn't quite accurate. He was just Alonzo Mourning.

To Chapter 7

Ewing's Other Battles

In the 1950's, a young sixth grader named John Thompson was once given a series of aptitude tests. Nervous over one test, and suffering poor vision, he failed to finish it altogether. As a result, a teacher tried to have him taken out of school, calling his results the work of an "uneducable" student, a clinical term for retarded.

"So I know what it feels like for people to characterize you one way or another," he later said.

These concerns are also applicable to Patrick Ewing, who was prejudged by many and endured more than his share of doubters and detractors during his college years. To, some, he was a jock who had no business at a Jesuit school; to others, it aroused even more sinister thoughts. Ewing not only succeeded at a school like Georgetown but prevailed against those who were ready to assume he could not succeed.

Ewing had not even enrolled at GU when articles appeared in the Boston Globe--its readers still stunned over Ewing's leaving of Boston for Washington--that Ewing was academically deficient and needed special care to attend classes.Jilted Boston University coach Rick Pitino went so far as to say that a student like Ewing couldn't ever have been accepted at BU--and a shadow was cast on Ewing the moment he arrived at Georgetown.

Thompson shielded Ewing from the press, which fueled stories that Ewing could not communicate well or that Georgetown had betrayed its academics for a big-time recruit. Georgetown's president, Timothy Healy, S.J. called such stories rubbish (actually, he used a less presidential word), and was steadfast in his support of Thompson and of Ewing's progress towards a degree.

While promptly accepted among his Georgetown classmates, Ewing was the target of every opposing fan in the conference, to the point of some the worst race-baiting in college basketball in a generation. Signs such as "Ewing Can't Read This" were paraded across Big East arenas, at other schools, objects such as oranges and bananas were thrown at him on the court. To his credit, Ewing never acknowledged such abuse, preferring to compete on the court. The juxtaposition of race played to the worst in Big East fans, most of whom were educated at Catholic schools.

Patrick Ewing has never let other people's expectations limit his outlook. He graduated on time and has remained an active member of the Georgetown alumni community. He is an example of the best of what a GU education can offer a young man, and in doing so, stands for something beyond just sports and those who play them.