Wil Jones (basketball coach)

William Stigler Jones (October 26, 1938 – March 12, 2014) was an American living basketball legend in Washington D.C. due to his superb basketball skills and flamboyance as a championship college basketball coach. He was known for his tenures at the University of the District of Columbia (UDC) and Norfolk State University.

Wil Jones
Biographical details
Born(1938-10-26)October 26, 1938
Washington, D.C.
DiedMarch 12, 2014(2014-03-12) (aged 75)
Virginia Beach, Virginia
Playing career
1957–1960American
Position(s)Point guard
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1971–1976Robinson Secondary School
1976–1979Maryland (assistant)
1979–1988,
1993–1999		District of Columbia
1999–2002Norfolk State
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
NCAA Division II championship (1982)
Awards
1st team All American (College Division) 1960

As a star at Dunbar High School (DC), he was known as Willie Jones and developed into Washington D.C.’s  finest jump shooter and led the city in scoring in 1956. In 1957 Jones joined former Spingarn H.S star Dick Wells on DC’s first racially integrated college basketball team under Mexican American coach David Carrasco at American University.

Wells and Jones led the American University Eagles to three consecutive Mason-Dixon and Eastern Regional championships.  During the summers, Willie held his own on the District’s competitive playgrounds against such future NBA Hall of Famers as Wilt Chamberlain and Elgin Baylor.[1] One observer remembers “Willie Jones, whose skills and verbosity made him a D.C. playground legend in the 1950s — he’s known as the city’s original trash talker — is remembered as the most colorful performer in the Baylor and Chamberlain games.” He had tremendous self confidence and once told the Washington Post, “When I went to a tournament the first thing I asked was, ‘Where’s the MVP trophy? Because that’s gonna be in my case tomorrow.’ ”[2]

Jones repeatedly broke AU and conference scoring records and in 1959 his  court wizardry gave AU its greatest athletic hour when he pumped in 30 points to lead Carrasco’s team to their first victory over Georgetown, 94-67.

In the elite eight 1960 NCAA tournament Willie set a record in scoring an astonishing 54 points (before the 3 point line was installed) against National Champion (Division II) Evansville on their home court.

Jones was named to the first-team, All-American College Division  squad that year and invited to the Olympic Trials in Denver, Colorado. The Eagles retired his number after his career was over, joining Kermit Washington N.B.A star as the only other AU player with that honor.

Following his college career, he played for the Baltimore Bullets of the Eastern Professional Basketball league along with Bill Spivey and Sherman White. Georgetown coach John Thompson said of his ability “The tiny scoring guard Wil Jones could have been great in the N.B.A. Little Wil was a shooter’s shooter, talked a whole lot of trash, and always backed it up.”[3]

Following his playing career, he became winning a high school coach for Robinson Secondary School.[4], as the first African American coach in Northern Virginia. According to one journalist he became “the most entertaining coach in the history of Northern Virginia, or of the whole area for that matter.”,[5] p. 132

After a stint as an assistant for Lefty Driesell at Maryland, where he recruited excellent African American players, Jones was named head coach at the University of the District of Columbia in 1979 and won the 1982 Division II national title.[6] Sports Illustrated noted Wil Jones’ recruiting talent, "In the most amazing recruiting coup the college game has seen in recent years, the coach persuaded 6'11", 215-pound Earl Jones (no relation), the most highly publicized high school player in the nation last season, to forsake the glamorous heavyweights of Division I for Division II UDC."[7] Earl Jones had been recruited by the top programs in the country, but had an uncertain academic future.[8]

Coach Jones also recruited leaper Michael Britt who teamed with Earl Jones to lead the UDC Firebirds back to back NCAA Division II Final Fours, where they were runners-up in 1983.

In 1988, eligibility irregularities were found in Jones' UDC program. The school had to forfeit 11 games for playing an ineligible transfer and he was reassigned and then fired.[9] However, after five years Jones was reinstated as head coach by legal order.[10]

In 1999, Jones moved to Norfolk State, citing a desire to coach at the Division I level. He was head coach for the Spartans for three seasons, compiling a record of 34–52.[11]

Wil Jones died of Pancreatic cancer in Virginia Beach, Virginia on March 12, 2014.[4] John Thompson sums up Wil Jones’ personality and basketball status in the Washington D.C. area when he told Sports Illustrated in 1980, “He was the Muhammad Ali of basketball. He was an extremely confident person on the court, and he could be very aggravating, but I like him.”[12]

Wil Jones is also appreciated for hiring NCAA’s first Female Assistant Basketball Coach Cheryl Roberts at UDC in 1981.

Jones' brother Frank Jones, Sr. resides in Maryland. He has one son William S. Jones Jr. and three grandsons (Los Angeles California) and nephews Frank Jones Jr, Frank Jones III, nieces Tia Jones and Kristy Jones of Maryland.

References
  1. Dave Mckenna. Wilt vs. Elgin: When Their World Was the Playground. Two legends in the summer of '57 (Grantland August 28, 2012)
  2. Dave Mckenna. Wilt vs. Elgin: When Their World Was the Playground. Two legends in the summer of '57 (Grantland August 28, 2012)
  3. John Thompson, I Came as a Shadow: An Autobiography, Henry Holt and Commpany, New York, 2020, p. 38
  4. Schudel, Matt (March 14, 2014). "Wil Jones, flamboyant UDC basketball coach, dies at 75". Washington Post. Retrieved May 17, 2017.
  5. John McNamara, The Capital of Basketball. Georgetown University Press( November 2019)
  6. Phillips, Angus (November 24, 1982). "UDC's Ready For a Run at Second Title". Washington Post. Retrieved May 17, 2017.
  7. Roger Jackson. A big one who thought small Dec 1, 1980. Sports Illustrated, p. 74
  8. Jackson, Roger (December 1, 1980). "A big one who thought small". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved May 17, 2017.
  9. "Report: NCAA to investigate 3 sports at UDC". United Press International. December 21, 1990. Retrieved May 17, 2017.
  10. Asher, Mark (March 31, 1993). "Five years later, Jones back at UDC". Washington Post. Retrieved May 17, 2017.
  11. "Norfolk State's Jones Relieved of Coaching Duties". Omnidan News. March 6, 2002. Retrieved May 17, 2017.
  12. Roger Jackson. A big one who thought small. Dec 1, 1980. Sports Illustrated, p. 75
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