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Princeton University Athletics
Clayton Marsh, John Thompson III To Be Honored At PVC Awards Banquet
John Thompson III and Clayton Marsh trace their roots at Princeton back to the 1980s, and those roots remain strong to the present, even as both men have gone on from the University to pursue other challenges.
Thompson and Marsh, two of the most-liked and most-respected alums of their era, will return to Princeton later this month as they are honored at the Gary Walters ’67 Princeton Varsity Club Awards Banquet.
Thompson, the head men's basketball coach at Georgetown, will be given the Class of 1967 Citizen Athlete Award, presented by the Princeton Varsity Club for selfless and noble contributions to sport and society.
A 1988 Princeton graduate, Thompson was the head coach at Princeton from 2000-01 through 2003-04. He won three Ivy League championships in those four years and took Princeton to two NCAA tournaments and one NIT. As a player he was known for his uncanny ability to see the court, a skill that has him still ranked fourth all-time in assists at Princeton.
Thompson has taken Georgetown to 11 postseason appearances in 12 years as head coach, including eight NCAA tournaments and the 2007 Final Four. Between Princeton and Georgetown, Thompson has a record of 332-175 with 10 NCAA trips.
Beyond his coaching success, he and his wife Monica have been incredibly active in the Georgetown and Washington, D.C., communities. Together they created the John Thompson III Foundation, which has worked on numerous initiatives in the area, especially those that help inner-city and at-risk kids and their families.
Clayton Marsh ’85 has been selected as the 2016 recipient of the Marvin Bressler Award, which is presented to that member of the Princeton family who, through heartfelt support of the University’s student-athletes and coaches, best embodies a belief in the lifelong lessons taught by competition and athletics as a complement to the overall educational mission. Dr. Bressler, by the way, was extremely close with John Thompson III during JT3's time at Princeton.
Marsh returned to Princeton in 2002 in the role of university counsel prior to becoming the deputy dean of the college in 2011. Marsh held that post until 2016 when he left to become the founding head of a new independent school in Bentonville, Arkansas.
While at Princeton, Marsh impacted countless student-athletes through his steadfast dedication to shaping the academic journey of undergraduates, including supervisory responsibilities for the freshman seminar program, the Princeton Writing Program, the Program in Teacher Preparation, the McGraw Center for Teaching and Learning and the Community-Based Learning Initiative. He also served as the University’s faculty athletics representative to the NCAA and as an Academic-Athletic fellow to the wrestling team.
To learn more about the Gary Walters ’67 PVC Awards Banquet, please visit the PVC website: www.PrincetonVarsityClub.org.