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Wallace Clayton "Wah Wah" Jones (July 14, 1926 – July 27, 2014) was an American professional basketball player. He played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1949 to 1952 with the Indianapolis Olympians.
Jones attended the University of Kentucky, where he continued to play varsity football, basketball and baseball. He was twice All-SEC in football. In basketball, he was a three time All-American and four time All-SEC. He led the Wildcats to two NCAA Championships, in 1948 and 1949. Jones was a member of the 1948 Olympic Gold medal-winning team with Adolph Rupp's "Fabulous Five" and the Phillips 66ers. During his four years at Kentucky, the basketball team had a combined record of 130–10 and won the SEC championship every year.
He holds the unique distinction of being an All-American under both legends, Adolph Rupp (basketball) and Bear Bryant (football) when both coached at Kentucky. He is the only player to have his number retired in both football and basketball at Kentucky. At the University of Kentucky, Jones was a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity. Jones was selected in the seventh round of the 1949 NFL draft by the Chicago Bears, but did not play in the league.
In 1953, Jones was elected the sheriff of Fayette County, Kentucky. Story, Mark, Farmer's political rise recalls another former Cat's Lexington Herald-Leader. September 5, 2010. In 1956, Jones was the Republican nominee for Kentucky's 6th congressional district seat in the United States House of Representatives. Though Dwight Eisenhower, heading the Republican ticket, carried the state, Jones lost the election to Democrat John C. Watts.
In 1978, Jones started a charter bus company called "Blue Grass Tours" that is contracted to the UK Athletics department. Blue Grass Tours is currently run by his son Wallace (Wah) Jones and grandson Corey Jones, and manages a fleet of coach busses for the use of the athletic teams.
"Wah Wah"
Known as Wallace in his early years, Jones acquired the nickname, "Wah Wah", when his younger sister Jackie, just learning to talk, could not pronounce his name. Legendary UK basketball and football star Wah Wah Jones dies Lexington Herald-Leader. July 27, 2014.
Death
Jones died in Lexington on July 27, 2014, at the age of 88.
Career statistics
NBA
Source
Regular season
1949–50 Indianapolis 12.5 1950–51 Indianapolis 11.2 1951–52 Indianapolis 7.4 Career 10.2
Playoffs
1950 Indianapolis 14.6 1952 Indianapolis 2.0 Career 12.5
Head coaching record
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| style="text-align:left;"|Indianapolis
| style="text-align:left;"|
| 12||7||5|||| style="text-align:center;"|4th in Western||3||1||2||
| style="text-align:center;"|Lost in division semifinals
|- class="sortbottom"
| style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"|Career
| 12||7||5|||| ||3||1||2||||
External links
Categories: 1926 Births, 2014 Deaths, All-american College Men's Basketball Players, American Men's Basketball Players, Basketball Coaches From Kentucky, Basketball Players At The 1948 Summer Olympics, Basketball Players From Kentucky, Indianapolis Olympians Coaches, Indianapolis Olympians Players, Kentucky Republicans, Kentucky Wildcats Football Players, Kentucky Wildcats Men's Basketball Players, Kentucky Wildcats Baseball Players, Medalists At The 1948 Summer Olympics, Olympic Gold Medalists For The United States In Basketball, People From Harlan, Kentucky, Power Forwards, United States Men's National Basketball Team Players, Washington Capitols Draft Picks, 20th-century American Sportsmen
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