Patrick Aloysius Ewing Sr. (born August 5, 1962) is a Jamaican-American basketball coach and former professional player who last coached for the Georgetown University men's team. He played most of his career as the starting center for the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA) before ending his playing career with brief stints with the Seattle SuperSonics and Orlando Magic. Ewing is regarded as one of the greatest centers of all time, playing a dominant role in the New York Knicks 1990s success.
Highly recruited out of Cambridge, Massachusetts, Ewing played center for Georgetown for four years—in three of which the team reached the NCAA championship game. ESPN in 2008 designated him the 16th-greatest college basketball player of all time. He had a seventeen-year NBA career, predominantly playing for the New York Knicks, where he was an eleven-time all-star and named to seven All-NBA teams. The Knicks appeared in the NBA Finals twice (1994 and 1999) during his tenure. He won Olympic gold medals as a member of the 1984 and 1992 United States men's Olympic basketball teams. Ewing was selected as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History in 1996 and as one of the 75 Greatest Players in NBA History in 2021. He is a two-time inductee into the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts (in 2008 for his individual career and in 2010 as a member of the 1992 Olympic team). Additionally he was inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame as a member of the "Dream Team" in 2009. His number 33 was retired by the Knicks in 2003.
Early life
Ewing was born August 5, 1962, in Kingston, Jamaica to Carl and Dorothy Ewing. He was born one day before Jamaica declared independence. As a child, he excelled at cricket and soccer. In 1975, Ewing moved to the United States and settled with his family outside Boston in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Ewing learned to play basketball at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School with the help of John Fountain and his coach Mike Jarvis. With only a few years of playing experience, Ewing developed into one of the best high school players in the country, and among the most intimidating forces ever seen at the level given his size and athleticism. Due to his stature and the team's dominance, Ewing was subject to taunts and jeers from hostile away crowds. Once rival fans even rocked the team bus when Ewing's squad arrived to play an away game. Ewing led Cambridge Rindge and Latin to three consecutive Massachusetts Div. I state championships from 1979 to 1981. In order to prepare for college, Ewing joined the MIT-Wellesley Upward Bound Program.
College career
As a senior in high school, Ewing signed a letter of intent to play for coach John Thompson at Georgetown University. Ewing made his announcement in Boston, in a room full of fans who were hoping for him to play for local schools Boston College or Boston University; when Ewing announced his decision to play at Georgetown, the fans left the room. During his recruitment, Ewing was very close to signing a letter of intent to play for Dean Smith and the University of North Carolina; however, while on his recruiting visit, he witnessed a nearby rally for the Ku Klux Klan, which dissuaded him from going there. Ewing made six recruiting visits in all; he also visited UCLA and Villanova.
As a freshman during the 1981–82 season, Ewing became one of the first college players to start and star on the varsity team as a freshman. That year, Ewing led the Hoyas to their second Big East tournament title in school history and a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. In the tournament, the Hoyas advanced to their first Final Four since 1943, where they defeated the University of Louisville, 50–46, to set up a showdown in the NCAA Final against North Carolina. In one of the most star-studded championship games in NCAA history, Ewing was called for goaltending five times in the first half (later revealed to be intentional at the behest of coach John Thompson), setting the tone for the Hoyas and making his presence felt. The Hoyas led late in the game, but a shot by future NBA superstar Michael Jordan gave North Carolina the lead. Georgetown still had a chance at winning the game in the final seconds, but Freddy Brown mistakenly threw a bad pass directly to opposing player James Worthy.