Patrick Ewing held Lorry Michel’s hand as she walked slowly and the cameras pursued Georgetown’s new men’s basketball coach. Legacy, tradition, a feeling of home all brought Ewing back to the Hilltop to take over the Hoya’s wobbling basketball program. At that moment in the hall of the still-pristine John R. Thompson Jr. Intercollegiate Athletic Center, Ewing could not have been more enveloped by the weighty legacy he just purposely walked into.
Michel became Georgetown’s head athletic trainer for men’s basketball in 1981, the year Ewing arrived as the most-coveted recruit in the country. She stood unsteady next to the towering Ewing on Wednesday while they both trailed Thompson, the only heavyweight influencer at the day’s introductory press conference not in formal linens.