This week in Black history

* John Thompson became the first Black coach to win an NCAA Division I championship on this day. Georgetown University won the NCAA championship when the Hoyas beat the University of Houston 84-75. Thompson, known for speaking out on racial issues, built a tradition of winning as the coach of the Georgetown Hoyas from 1972 until 1999. His 27-year legacy included a win/loss record of 596-239, three Final Four appearances, 14 consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, an NCAA title in 1984 and seven Coach of the Year awards. Thompson also led the United States to a bronze medal in the 1988 Olympics. He was enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach in 1999.

April 4, 1968--

* Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., clergyman and civil rights leader, was assassinated on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, TN, on this day. The 39-year-old civil fights leader was in Memphis planning to lead a march in support of striking sanitation workers. A day before his death, Dr. King gave the rousing "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech at the Union Hall to Mason Temple. Dr. King was buried in Atlanta on April 9, 1968, after his coffin was carried through the streets to More-house College as nearly 100,000 mourners followed. Dr. King is entombed in the Freedom Hall Complex of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Historical Site in Atlanta.