John E. Wilson (1927 – January 11, 2019), popularly known as Jumpin' Johnny Wilson, was an American basketball and baseball player. He gained his nickname for being the only player on his high school team able to dunk the basketball.Dick Denny,
Glory Days Indiana: Legends of Indiana High School Basketball
'

Playing career

As a high school student in

Anderson, Indiana Anderson, named after Chief William Anderson, is a city in and the county seat of Madison County, Indiana, United States. It is the principal city of the Anderson, Indiana Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses Madison County. Anderson ...

at Anderson High School, Anderson he captained the Indians basketball team and was named Indiana's Mr. Basketball. In the high school championship game in 1946, he scored 30 of his team's 67 points in its victory over Fort Wayne Central High School, a record. Wilson wished to attend

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universi ...

after he graduated in 1946, but was not recruited due to the Big Ten's unspoken policy of not recruiting African-American players. Instead, Wilson attended Anderson College, where he quickly became a star player. During his three-year career at Anderson, Wilson earned eleven letters, was selected All-conference three times, team M.V.P. three times, named as an All-American twice, and once finished third in the nation in scoring. As of 2008, Wilson still held the school record for career scoring average, season scoring average, and field goal attempts in a game. After leaving Anderson College, Wilson played baseball for one year with the

Chicago American Giants The Chicago American Giants were a Chicago-based Negro league baseball team. From 1910 until the mid-1930s, the American Giants were the most dominant team in black baseball. Owned and managed from 1911 to 1926 by player-manager Andrew "Rube" F ...

in the

Negro leagues The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Americans and, to a lesser extent, Latin Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be ...

before playing basketball for the Harlem Globetrotters from 1949 to 1954. Wilson later returned to Anderson College in 1970 to finish earning his bachelor's degree in education.

Coaching career

Wilson spent eight years at head basketball coach at Wood High School in Indianapolis, then sixteen years as head coach and athletic director at

Malcolm X College Malcolm X College, one of the City Colleges of Chicago, is a two-year college located on the Near West Side of Chicago, Illinois. It was founded as Crane Junior College in 1911 and was the first of the City Colleges. Crane ceased operations at th ...

, compiling a 378-135 (.737) record. Afterwards, Wilson worked as an assistant coach for Anderson College and Anderson High School. Wilson was the assistant basketball coach at

Lock Haven University Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania (LHU) is a public university in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania. It is part of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. The main campus consists of and the branch campus covers . It offers 69 undergradua ...

aside his son John E. Wilson Jr. Wilson Sr. later moved to Virginia until the time of his death on January 11, 2019.

Legacy

Wilson was the subject of the book "Jump Johnny Jump!" written by Dick Burdette. Wilson was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame and the Anderson University Athletic Hall of Fame as part of its inaugural class in 1997. He was named one of Indiana's 50 best basketball players of all time.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Jumping Johnny 1927 births 2019 deaths American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Anderson Ravens baseball players Anderson Ravens men's basketball players Baseball players from Indiana Basketball coaches from Indiana Basketball players from Indiana Chicago American Giants players College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Harlem Globetrotters players High school basketball coaches in the United States Junior college athletic directors in the United States Anderson High School (Anderson, Indiana) alumni 20th-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American people