Jones, who personified winning as a hard point guard and then coach of the Boston Celtics during a Hall of Fame career, has passed away, the Celtics confirmed Friday. He was 88.
KC was Jones’s first name, although some joked that the “C” stood for championships. It was easy to see why.
He played nine seasons in the NBA, all with the Celtics, winning titles in eight of them – the third most in the league’s history, behind only longtime teammates Bill Russell (11) and Sam Jones (10). That success carried over to his coaching days, when he won three titles (one as an assistant, two as a head coach) during Boston’s 1980s success with Larry Bird & Co.
Jones wasn’t flashy, and his playing days weren’t filled with flashy statistics; he averaged only 7.4 points in his career. But the six-foot guard was the consummate team player whose defense gave attacks to opponents like Jerry West and Oscar Robertson, and whose game turned the Celtics’ game.
“ I just didn’t see how a man who shot as bad as KC could stay in the NBA, ” recalls Bob Cousy, the famed Celtics point guard who initially backed Jones and then replaced as starter when ‘Cooz’ retired . in 1963. ” I really didn’t think his other skills would be enough to keep him alive. But I was wrong. The man turned out to be great on defense, eventually learning to score enough that rival teams couldn’t afford not to guard him. ”
Jones was on the title-winning teams with the Celtics from 1959 to ’66, an eight-year run unparalleled in professional sport. The only season in which he did not win a championship was 1966-67, and Jones, at the age of 34, retired shortly afterwards.
But Jones stayed in the game, first as coach of Brandeis University outside Boston and then as an assistant or head coach in the NBA or ABA before returning to the Celtics in 1977 as an assistant under Bill Fitch. Fitch left the team for four years. later, and Jones replaced him and inherited a group led by Bird and fellow Hall of Famers Kevin McHale and Robert Parish. Three weeks after Jones took over, the Celtics made a move to take over Dennis Johnson.
Together they reached the NBA Finals four seasons in a row (1984-87) and won titles in 1984 and ’86. Jones’s laid-back coaching style was criticized by some, but his players welcomed it.
“He respects us as a coach and as a person,” Bird once said.
Jones left the Celtics bench after the 1987 season and moved to the Celtics’ front office before ending his career with coaching stints in Seattle and Detroit.
His number 25 has been retired by the Celtics and he was inducted into the Pro Basketball Hall of Fame in 1989.
Born in Texas, Jones co-played with Russell at the University of San Francisco and won back-to-back NCAA titles in 1955 and ’56. The summer after the second title, the two led Team USA to a gold medal at the Olympics in Melbourne.
To this day, Jones is just one of seven players to have won college basketball and NBA titles and Olympic gold, along with Russell, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Jerry Lucas, Quinn Buckner and Clyde Lovellette.