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Message: [QUOTE="Waquoit, post: 3663006, member: 50"] Coach Thompson had an enormous positive impact on me at a young age. I just finished 7th grade when I went to PC basketball camp the summer after Ernie D's FF. You hear the coaches and councilors talking and they were particularly pumped for that mornings guest speaker, John Thompson on rebounding. They mentioned how great it was he got "that job". Of course, I had no clue what job that was then. I had never heard of Thompson. So I'm sitting on the floor upfront when coach comes into the gym. He was huge of course, even bigger from that angle. I remember his talking about always having your arms up if you want to rebound. So later when we got to those Big East games and saw the G'town guys with their arms always up getting all the rebounds, I knew where that came from. He said, "You [I]have[/I] to keep your arms in the air because I don't know anyone who can rebound with their feet!" All of a sudden cries rang out "Leon!" Leon!" Leon can rebound with his feet!" I immediately looked over to Leon. He was the camp nerd and looked the part. A 17 or so, dark haired Napoleon Dynamite with black calf socks. He had been catching crap all week from the older guys. Coach says "Leon, please come up here." Leon, not thrilled with the attention walks up, stands next to Thompson, whereupon Coach puts his hand on Leon's shoulder and says, "I've been here watching you guys play. One thing I noticed about Leon is that he is giving his best at everything he does" Suddenly, Thompson steps forward and points to the biggest mouth and says, "Do you?!" He asked another couple of guys, they all had no answer and he says, "No, you don't. But Leon does. Trying your best, even under tough circumstances is a sign of being a man. Leon is a man." He turns to Leon, sticks out his hand and says, "Leon, it was my pleasure to meet you." I'll never forget that. Thompson was a righteous dude. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach

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