Before MJ, in NBA and at the Hall, Thompson shows the way

On a warm July afternoon in Charlotte, David Thompson was returning home from his office at 2Xsalt, a Christian sports ministry, when he received a call from the Hall. Fran Judkins, the director of development for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, was on the other line.

"She asked me if I would like to be a presenter for the Hall of Fame and I said, 'Sure, no problem,'" Thompson said Friday by telephone. "After we were talking for a few minutes, I finally got around to asking her who it was that I would be presenting and she said it was Michael Jordan."

More than two months later, Thompson -- who was inducted into the Hall as a player in 1996 -- still marvels at the magnitude of the honor.

"I told her I would be honored and flattered to be a representative of Michael," said Thompson. "I mean, there are a lot of guys he could have picked. Dean Smith, James Worthy have ties to Michael at North Carolina. Larry Brown is also a North Carolina guy. Phil Jackson would have been another great choice."

The selection of Thompson as Jordan's lone sponsor shouldn't come as a shock to anyone who has followed the six-time NBA champion's career closely.

Before there was Jordan, there was Thompson. Cedric Maxwell, born in Kinston, N.C. and a four-year player at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, summed up Thompson's iconic status in the Tar Heel state best when he said, "In North Carolina, there was God, and then there was David Thompson."

The man nicknamed Skywalker dominated the collegiate landscape, leading NC State to its first NCAA title in 1974. He possessed a rare combination of power, skill and finesse while taking full advantage of a 48-inch vertical leap. Listed at 6-foot-4, Thompson was barely 6-foot-3. He could tip a quarter off the top of a backboard yet couldn't palm a basketball.

None of this was lost on Jordan, growing up in Wilmington, N.C. He looked up to Thompson, trying to emulate the guard's game.

"Michael has been quoted saying I was an inspiration to him and how he wanted to be like me," said Thompson. "I remember when Michael was in college and they said he was going to be the next David Thompson. It's kind of ironic. Everywhere I go to speak, I always get introduced as the Michael Jordan before Michael Jordan."

Thompson, who at 55 can still dunk despite creaky knees, is passionate about speaking to kids and has done so throughout the year with 2Xsalt. In the early 1990s, in his role as a community ambassador with the then-Charlotte Hornets, Thompson once brought in about 100 underprivileged kids who were treated to a guest speaker: You Know Who.

"It was amazing to see the response to Michael," said Thompson. "It was like they had met the The Beatles or Michael Jackson. The girls would shriek, shake and tremble and weep with joy.

"When Michael said to them that I was a player who influenced him and someone he looked up to, they looked at me in a whole different light. I was pretty much a star again. Suddenly, everyone wanted my autograph. They said, 'If Michael said you were good, then you must have been real good.'"

Thompson first heard about Jordan when he was a sophomore at Laney High School in Wilmington and kept tabs on him ever since.

"Coming from North Carolina, you hear about the top players in the state," said Thompson. "I heard about Michael Jordan as early as his sophomore year in high school. NC State and Carolina recruited the same players and it was known that he was a fan of mine. I know he was interested in both schools."

Still, the player widely regarded as the greatest in not only Wolfpack history but in ACC annals wasn't used as a recruiting magnet to lure Jordan to Raleigh.

"NC State didn't really use me that way," said Thompson. "The basketball program was in a transitional phase with Jim Valvano taking over for Norm Sloan. I was out West in Denver with the Nuggets, so I wasn't around much. They didn't ask me to contact anybody. I guess they were afraid of possible recruiting ramifications."

And had Thompson recruited MJ to the Wolfpack, how many more championship banners would be hanging in Raleigh today?

"At least another championship or two," said Thompson.

Thompson recalled meeting Jordan for the first time in Seattle in 1984.

"We were at the Final Four in Seattle and I was playing for the Sonics at the time," said Thompson. "That was right after Michael declared for the NBA and he was out there to receive the NCAA Player of the Year Award.

"My friend Walter Bell said he wanted to take a picture of two of the best players to play in the ACC. Walter still has the picture and a few years ago, he showed Michael and some of the guys and he was teasing him because he had hair," Thompson said laughing.

Thompson was selected No. 1 overall in both the NBA and ABA Drafts in 1975. Choosing to play with the Denver Nuggets of the ABA, Thompson found himself in the NBA the following season when the league absorbed Denver, along with San Antonio, Indiana and the New York Nets. The four-time All-Star, who once scored 73 points in an NBA game, third highest at the time, never competed against Jordan in the NBA. Thompson's playing career ended after the 1984 season due to a knee injury. Jordan was drafted two months later.

"I missed playing against Michael, that would have been nice," said Thompson. "I would have liked that. I was actually activated during 1984-85, his rookie season, but never played."

And what would have happened had a healthy Thompson taken on Jordan one-on-one?

"That would have been a good matchup," said Thompson. "We would both be hard to stop. We're both great scorers. He's a little bigger than I am. We're both quick. I had a quick first step, I could get around most anybody. I might have had him on vertical leap. I have a few inches in that department.

"We were both pretty good shooters. Early on in my career, maybe I was a little better shooter but he worked on that aspect of his game and he got down later in his career."

A man who matched up against the greatest players in NBA history -- the likes of Julius Erving, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and who saw Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson and Bill Russell play -- doesn't mince words in proclaiming who is No. 1.

"He's the best I've seen," said Thompson. "I can't put anybody above him. I can't see anybody better than Michael Jordan. He was the complete player.

"No one made more clutch shots at the end of the games. He was a tenacious defender and did things that Julius, myself and Elgin did but elevated them to another level. Julius dunked from the free-throw line, Michael pulled it back and split his legs when he dunked from there."

That was Jordan, elevating the game to new heights. Not unlike his basketball hero, David Thompson.