Ben Wilson (basketball player)

Ben "Benji" Wilson Jr.
Player information
Full name	Benjamin Wilson Jr.
Nickname	Benji
birthday	March 18, 1967
place of birth	Chicago , Illinois , United States
date of death	November 21, 1984 at the age of 17 years and 248 days
Place of death	Chicago , Illinois , United States
size	201 cm
Weight	108 kg
position	Point Guard / Shooting Guard
league	Illinois High School Association
Jersey number	25th
Clubs as active
1981–1984 Simeon Career Academy (Chicago)
1 As of October 29, 2012

Benjamin "Benji" Wilson Jr. (born March 18, 1967 - November 21, 1984 ) was an American high school basketball player from Chicago who was shot just before the start of his senior season. He was the first in Chicago history to be named the best high school basketball player in America.

Early life

Ben was born to Mary and Benjamin Wilson Sr. and grew up on the South Side of Chicago. He was his mother's third child and his father's first child. Wilson began playing basketball at an early age and was part of the school teams at St. Dorothy School and Ruggles Elementary School, which he graduated from in 1981. Wilson trained in Cole Park, named after the American musician Nat King Cole , in the Chatham district of Chicago.

High school

In the fall of 1981 he began his freshman year at Simeon Vocational High School in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago for the school team; in the 1983/84 season Wilson was the only junior who played on the high school school team. Simeon beat Aurora West High School by nine points. Simeon won her first Illinois State Championship that year when she beat the number one Evanston Township High School 53-47 in the finals. ESPN HS named him the best player in the country for the 1983/84 season.

Athletes For Better Education (ABCD)

In July 1984, Wilson attended the exclusive Athletes For Better Education Camp in Princeton, New Jersey. As a pioneer in high school scouting, the AFBE Camp (later ABCD) enabled talent scouts and coaches to observe new talent from all over the country in one place. After the weeklong event, talent scout Bob Gibbons named Ben Wilson the # 1 high school player in America. Shortly before the start of his senior season, he was finally able to choose between scholarship offers from Illinois , DePaul and Indiana .

death

Wilson was shot on the afternoon of November 20, 1984 while walking down Vincennes Avenue with his girlfriend Jetun Rush after school had finished. After being approached and threatened by two teenagers named William Moore and Omar Dixon, Moore drew a gun and shot Wilson. His aorta was so badly injured that he died the next day after an unsuccessful operation in St. Bernard Hospital.

Personal

Wilson was nicknamed " Magic Johnson with a jump shot". He has a son named Brandon Wilson with his girlfriend Jetun Rush (now Jetun Rivers). His son Brandon, who was ten weeks old at the time of his father's death, became a successful high school basketball player in New York and wore Wilson's number 25 jersey.

legacy

Wilson's friend and teammate from Simeon Vocational High School , former NBA and University of Illinois player Nick Anderson , wore jersey number 25 during his career in honor of his dead friend, as did Juwan Howard at the University of Michigan . Ben Wilson's story was central to a 1997 Nike commercial aired during the NBA playoffs in which an old man added:

One out of every five black men die before they reach the age of twenty-five.

That was Benji's number. Benji was the first in Chicago history to ever be named top high school player in the nation, right before he was gunned down.

But you know what? Benji's not dead: Benji's spirit lives on in every jump shot.

Remember: Shoot over brothas, not at them.

One in five black men dies before his 25th birthday.

That was Benji's number. Benji became the first in Chicago history to be named the best high school player in the country just before he was gunned down.

But you know what? Benji is not dead: Benji's spirit lives on in every jump shot.

Remember: Throw over brothers, don't shoot them.

Former Chicago Bulls - and now Detroit Pistons - Guard Derrick Rose graduated from Simeon Vocational High School in 2007 . Rose wore the number 25 jersey throughout his high school season and carried on Wilson's legacy at the school by winning two state championships with the team in 2006 and 2007. Simeon basketball player Jabari Parker had the number 25 sewn into his athletic shoes while at school.

ESPN dedicated an entire episode to Ben Wilson as part of its "30 For 30" documentary series entitled " Benji: The True Story Of A Dream Cut Short ". The episode aired on October 23, 2012. There is also a documentary from Comcast about the life of the basketball player entitled " 25: The Ben Wilson Story ".

Bibliography

• 20 Year Tragedy (Chicago Sports Review, December 2004)
• The Well-Guarded Guard (Sports Illustrated, Nov. 20, 2006)
• Ben Wilson's death resonates 25 years later (Chicago Tribune, November 2009)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ SLAM ONLINE: Original Old School: Nuthin 'But Love SLAM 4: Ben Wilson's life may have ended at 17, but his legacy as Chicago's last best hope lives on.
2. ↑ Ben Wilson: A Life Cut Short but the Memories Remain
3. ↑ http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1994-03-18/sports/9403180259_1_simeon-reunion-proviso-east
4. ↑ Fields, Ronnie: Previous underclass POYs . In: ESPN HS . May 18, 2011. Archived from the original on May 22, 2011. Retrieved on February 2, 2012.
5. ↑ http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1985-10-09/news/8503080823_1_ben-wilson-simeon-vocational-high-school-benjamin-wilson
6. ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/1993/02/14/sports/pro-basketball-a-dead-friend-a-living-memory.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm
7. ↑ An unknown legacy Chicago high school basketball legend Ben Wilson's son, Brandon — now a top player in New York — is following in the footsteps of a father whose future was tragically cut short (Chicago Tribune, April 12, 2002)
8. ↑ With an assist from Parker, 'Benji' debuts
9. ^ ESPN documentary to remember Simeon's Ben Wilson (Chicago Tribune, August 16, 2012)