BOSTON (AP) – KC Jones, a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame and a gold medalist at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, has died. He was 88 years old.
The former player was twice crowned in college basketball and won eight consecutive NBA titles during the Bill Russell era with the Celtics. As a coach, he later guided Boston to two more championships in the 1980s, with the likes of Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish.
According to the Celtics, Jones’ family confirmed that the former player had died Friday in a Connecticut nursing home, where he had been receiving care for several years. Jones suffered from Alzheimer’s disease.
“KC was the nicest man I have ever met. He always got his way to make people feel good. It was a great honor to play for him, “Bird said in a statement. “His accomplishments are too many to list, but I think the greatest was simply being an outstanding person to all of us who had the privilege of meeting him. I’ll miss him a lot”.
Jones is one of seven players in history to have won an Olympic gold medal, an NCAA title, and an NBA title.
He won two more NBA titles as an assistant coach, and was a strategist for the Celtics when they advanced to the league finals in four consecutive seasons, from 1984 to 87. He was crowned in 1984 and two years later, with a team that imposed a record winning 67 regular-season games and going 15-3 in the postseason.
Only Russell and Sam Jones, his teammate on the Celtics, won more NBA championships as players.
“Where KC was going, the victory would surely follow,” the Celtics stressed in a statement, before playing their Christmas game against the Brooklyn Nets.
Jones is the third Hall of Famer in those 1965 champions who has died this year. John Thompson passed away in August, while player and coach Tommy Heinsohn died last month.
Two days after observing a minute’s silence for Heinsohn before the season opener, the Celtics held the same solemn act in memory of Jones on Friday.
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