The man responsible for teaching Martin Luther King Jr. how to engage crowds has died. Former Texas Southern University debate coach Dr. Thomas Freeman passed away over the weekend at the age of 100, the university announced Monday.

Freeman, whose career spanned 70 years, trained thousands of students to speak and debate more effectively during his tenure. Among them was King, who became a student of Freeman when he attended Atlanta’s Morehouse College. In 2007, Freeman was hired by Denzel Washington to work with actors on the film “The Great Debaters,” which chronicled the true story of a black debate squad that took on white competitors in the 1930s.

Throughout his successful career, Freeman was asked on a number of occasions for the secret to being a great debater. His simple answer never changed. “To have a devotion to the truth,” he’d say, “and the facts.”

Source: https://abcnews.go.com/US/legendary-debate-coach-dr-thomas-freeman-taught-mlk/story?id=71126312