K.C. Jones

Lore & Background

Jones was born in Taylor, Texas, as the oldest of six children. The initials 'K.C.' were his given name; he inherited the same name as his father, a factory worker and cook, who himself was named after the fabled railroad engineer Casey Jones. When Jones was aged nine, his parents divorced and he moved to San Francisco, California, with his mother and two siblings. He learned to play basketball on a patch of gravel.

Jones attended Commerce High School in San Francisco where he played basketball and football. He considered himself to be a better football player than a basketball player in high school. Jones played college basketball at the University of San Francisco and, along with Bill Russell, guided the Dons to NCAA championships in 1955 and 1956. During their time with the Dons, Russell and Jones led the team to a then-record 55-game win streak (including an undefeated 29–0 record during the 1955–56 season) and helped pioneer a play that later became known as the alley-oop.

Jones also played with Russell on the United States national team which won the gold medal at the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia, while defeating their opponents by an unsurpassed average margin of 53.5 points per game. Jones served two years in the United States Army from 1956 to 1958. In July 1958, Jones tried out for the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League (NFL); the Rams had drafted him in the 30th round of the 1955 NFL draft.

He decided to try for a football career because he did not know if he had the ability to make it as a professional basketball player. Jones had not played a full season of football since his senior year at Commerce High School and only played in one regulation game afterwards during his stint in the army. Jones planned to report to the Boston Celtics in September if he failed to make the Rams. Playing as a defensive halfback, he was considered a likely candidate to make the team after preseason performances against the Washington Redskins and New York Giants.

On September 2, 1958, Jones decided that he wanted to play for the Celtics and left the Rams. During his playing days, he was known as a tenacious defender.

Reader's Guide

K.C. Jones won 12 NBA championships in total: eight as a player with the Boston Celtics, two as an assistant coach (one with the Los Angeles Lakers and one with the Celtics), and two as head coach of the Celtics. He is one of only eight players to achieve the basketball Triple Crown (NCAA championship, NBA championship, Olympic gold medal). He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1989.