KC Jones, who personified the winner as a fist point and then coached the Boston Celtics during a race at the Hall of Fame, is dead, the Celtics confirmed Friday. He was 88 years old.
KC was Jones’ first name, although some joked with the “C” representing the championships. It was easy to see why.
He played nine seasons in the NBA, all with the Celtics, and won titles in eight of them, the third largest in league history, behind teammates Bill Russell (11) and Sam Jones. (10). This success moved back to his coaching days, when he won three titles (one as an assistant, two as head coach) during Boston’s success in the 1980s with Larry Bird & Co.
Jones was not showy and his playing days were not full of emaciated statistical lines; he averaged just 7.4 points in his career. But the 6-foot-1 guard was the player of the consummate team, whose defense accommodated opposing stars like Jerry West and Oscar Robertson and whose game powered the Celtics’ engine.
” I just didn’t see how a man who fired as badly as KC could stay in the NBA, ” recalled Bob Cousy, the famous Celtics guard whom Jones initially supported and then replaced him as a starter when he retired. “Cooz” in 1963. “I didn’t really think his other skills were enough to keep him close. But I was wrong. The man proved amazing on defense and finally learned to score enough so that rival teams wouldn’t they could afford not to protect it. “
Jones was part of the title-winning teams with the Celtics from 1959 to ’66, an unparalleled eight-year career in professional sports. The only season he did not win a championship was 1966-67, and Jones, at 34, retired shortly thereafter.
But Jones remained in the game, first as a coach at Brandeis University outside of Boston and then as an assistant or head coach in the NBA or ABA before returning to the Celtics as Bill Fitch’s assistant in 1977. Fitch left the team four years later, and Jones replaced him, inheriting a group led by Bird and fellow Hall of Famers Kevin McHale and Robert Parish. Three weeks after Jones took over, the Celtics took a step back to acquire Dennis Johnson.
Together they reached the NBA Finals four consecutive seasons (1984-87), winning titles in 1984 and ’86. Some criticized Jones’s relaxed style of coaching, but his players welcomed him.
“He has our respect as a coach and as a person,” Bird once said.
Jones left the Celtics bench after the 1987 season, moving to the Celtics office before finishing his career with training sessions in Seattle and Detroit.
His No. 25 is retired by the Celtics and was inducted into the Pro Basketball Hall of Fame in 1989.
A native of Texas, Jones performed alongside Russell at the University of San Francisco, winning consecutive NCAA titles in 1955 and 56. In the summer after the second title, the two led the USA team to a at the Melbourne Olympics.
To date, Jones is just one of seven players who have won college basketball and NBA titles in addition to Olympic gold, joining Russell, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Jerry Lucas, Quinn Buckner and Clyde Lovellette.