First winner of Dean Smith award was coach's close friend

Posted Nov 11, 2015
Dean Smith and John Thompson – two of the biggest names in college basketball – were close friends on and off the court, so it was only appropriate that Thompson was the first winner of the Dean Smith Award on Tuesday night. Normally Thompson would not be found at a fancy event, but the former Georgetown basketball coach said that he couldn’t say “no” to the award because of the person it was named for. (WRAL.com)

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