BOSTON — Basketball Hall of Famer K.C. Jones, who won eight NBA championships as a Celtics player in the 1960s and two more as the coach of the Boston teams that took the title in 1984 and '86, has died. He was 88.
The Celtics said Jones' family confirmed Friday that he died at an assistant living facility in Connecticut, where he had been receiving care for Alzheimer's disease for the past several years.
Jones joined with Bill Russell to lead San Francisco to back-to-back NCAA championships in 1955-56. The two also played on the U.S. team that won the Olympic gold medal at the 1956 Games in Melbourne.
A second-round draft choice by the Celtics, Jones reunited with Russell to win eight straight NBA titles from 1959-66. He retired in 1967 and began coaching, first in college at Brandeis and Harvard before joining the Los Angeles Lakers as an assistant, in 1971-72, where he earned another championship ring.
He was an assistant coach on the Celtics team that won it all in 1981 before guiding the team led by Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish to the 1984 and '86 championships.
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