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Take into account his listing of accomplishments: Twelve NBA championships as a participant and coach, two NCAA rings and one Olympic gold medal. That makes him certainly one of solely eight gamers in historical past to have achieved basketball’s “Triple Crown.”
The truth is, profitable and Jones went so hand in hand that the standing joke was the ‘C’ in Okay.C. stood for championships.
Jones died this week at age 88, the Boston Celtics introduced Friday.
The crew didn’t launch a reason for demise or say precisely when he handed away.
“Okay.C. Jones was among the many most embellished champions within the historical past of our recreation,” stated NBA Commissioner Adam Silver in a press release. “Okay.C.’s extraordinary accomplishments and impression will lengthy be remembered.”
Jones’ demise was the second passing of an iconic Celtics determine this 12 months.
Table of Contents
The faculty years
Okay.C. is his given title. He was named after his father who, had been named after a legendary railroad engineer Casey Jones.
His dad and mom separated when he was 9. And Jones moved together with his mom and siblings to San Francisco.
“There he realized to play basketball on a patch of gravel in an impoverished neighborhood,” the profile stated.
Jones attended the College of San Francisco. He was soft-spoken however a formidable presence.
The 6-foot-1 guard made his mark with defensive performs, sticking to opponents like glue, denying them possibilities and irritating them to no finish.
In school, he teamed up with Invoice Russell — one other participant whose title and the phrase “legend” are synonymous — and gained two NCAA championships.
The 2 had been additionally a part of the U.S. squad that gained the gold medal on the Melbourne Olympics in 1956.
After a two-year stint within the Military, Jones joined the Celtics. He was on his approach towards sealing his place within the historical past books.
The enjoying years
“In NBA historical past, solely teammates Invoice Russell and Sam Jones have extra championship rings throughout their enjoying careers,” the Celtics stated in a press release, recounting Jones’ accomplishments.
Jones performed 9 seasons within the NBA — all of them in Boston.
Eight resulted in NBA championships.
After the Celtics misplaced to the 76ers within the 1967 Japanese Division Finals, Jones determined it was time to retire.
And when he did, the Celtics retired his No. 25 jersey.
His profitable days had ended. His profitable days as a coach had been about to start.
The teaching years
After stints as a coach at Brandeis College, Los Angeles Lakers and the Washington Bullets, Jones returned to the Celtics.
He was named Celtics head coach in 1983. In 4 of the 5 seasons that he performed that function, he took the crew to the NBA finals.
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