K.C. Jones, former NBA player and coach who won 12 NBA titles (11 of them with the Boston Celtics), has passed away. No cause of death has been announced. He was 88.
Jones' achievements on the basketball court are astounding. He was a member of the University of San Francisco Dons who won back to back NCAA titles in 1955 and 1956, won a Gold medal as a member of the 1956 U.S. Olympic Team in Melbourne and then in his 9-year NBA playing career with the Celtics earned 8 NBA title rings.
Jones would turn his attention to coaching starting in the collegiate ranks at Brandeis University and at Harvard before joining the L.A. Lakers as an assistant coach where he would earn his 9th NBA Finals ring. That would be the Lakers team which won a league record 33 straight games.
Following the Lakers' NBA title, Jones would be hired by the San Diego Conquistadors of the ABA to be their head coach. After one season in San Diego, Jones would be lured away by the Capital/Washington Bullets to be their head coach for three seasons. After one season as an assistant coach with the Milwaukee Bucks, Jones returned to the Celtics in 1978 as an assistant coach. He would win his 10th NBA title as the Big Three of Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Danny Ainge earned their first championship. Jones would be named Celtics' head coach in 1983 and guide the team to four more NBA finals earning two championships - his 11th and 12th titles.
Jones would later coach the Seattle Supersonics as an assistant and head coach, work with the Detroit Pistons as an assistant coach and return to the Celtics for the third and final time as an assistant coach in 1996. Jones' coaching career finished as head coach of the all women New England Blizzard in the short-lived American Basketball League.
Jones should be considered among the greatest who ever played basketball and yet he was not inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame until 1989. It might be the case that Jones won all of his championships as a player (including his collegiate and Olympic championships) with Bill Russell by his side. It is easy to be overshadowed by Russell and also easy to be perceived to have been successful by being in Russell's presence rather than being recognized for one's own contributions.
But Jones made it to the Pro Basketball Hall of Fame just the same. I leave you with his induction speech. R.I.P.
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