I Came As A Shadow | April 2021 Bookclub Selection

MahoganyBooks | Very Smart Brothas Book Club

Was there really any question that, I, Derrick Young, a native of Southeast, Washington DC, son of Michael Young, also a native of Washington DC and a longtime Georgetown Hoya fan would not pick I Came As A Shadow as our book club selection. This was always destined to be. And as the second book our book club has read since the great pandemic pause of 2020, I’m crazy excited to have a conversation about a person who made an impact by doing what he loved.

Special Announcement

We are excited to announce that I Came As A Shadow co-author, Jesse Washington, will be joining us on D-Day (discussion day) to talk about the book, answer questions, and possibly reveal some secret nuggets. Jesse has won a National Journalism Award from the Asian-American Journalists Association, Journalist of the Year award from the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists, two feature awards from the National Association of Black Journalists, and a 2019 Associated Press Sports Editors Top 10 award for column writing.

About the Book

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

After three decades at the center of race and sports in America, the first Black head coach to win an NCAA championship makes the private public at last. Chockful of stories and moving beyond mere stats (and what stats! three Final Fours, four times 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. How did he inspire the phrase “Hoya Paranoia”? You’ll see. And thawing his historically glacial stare, Thompson brings us into his negotiation with a DC 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 couldn’t teach because she was Black. His father could not read or write, so the only way he could identify different cements at the factory where he worked was to taste them. Their son grew up to be a man with his own life-sized statue in a building that bears his family’s name on a campus once kept afloat by the selling of 272 enslaved 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–a last gift from “Coach”–he proves himself to be the elder statesman whose final words college basketball and the country need to hear. 

I Came As A Shadow is not a swan song, but a bullhorn blast from one of America’s most prominent sons. Huddle up.

Discussion Day Info

All participants must register via Zoom for the book club discussion. The discussion will take place on May 7th at 6PM EST.

About MahoganyBooks 242 Articles
MahoganyBooks is an online bookstore that believes in social entrepreneurship. We take a leadership role in the African American community promoting reading, writing, and cultural awareness as tools to improve communities as well as enrich the lives of motivated individuals.

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*