John Kevin Rhodes (born September 25, 1965) is an American basketball coach and former professional basketball player.

College

Rhodes played for

Ohio University Ohio University is a public research university in Athens, Ohio. The first university chartered by an Act of Congress and the first to be chartered in Ohio, the university was chartered in 1787 by the Congress of the Confederation and subseq ...

from 1984 to 1988, averaging 8.9 points and 7.3 rebounds in 102 games. Rhodes served as team captain and was named All-MAC second-team his senior year.

Playing career

Rhodes started his career in Germany in 1988 before playing two seasons in France. Rhodes joined Úrvalsdeild karla club

Haukar Knattspyrnufélagið Haukar ( en, Hawks F.C.) is an Icelandic multi-sport club from Hafnarfjörður with divisions in Football, Handball, Basketball, Karate, Skiing & Chess. Club history The club was founded on 12 April 1931, when 13 young boys ...

in 1991. He was selected to the 1992 Icelandic All-Star game, scoring 8 points. On March 6, 1992, Rhodes scored 31 points against KR in 88-81 victory in the Icelandic Basketball Cup semi-finals and helped Haukar to the Cup finals where his matchup with Njarðvík's Rondey Robinson was highly anticipated. In the Cup finals, Rhodes scored 27 points but was unable to prevent Haukar's loss against Njarðvík. In September 1992, Rhodes was loaned to Valur for their games against CRO Lyon in the

Korać Cup Korać is a surname. Notable persons with that name include: * Dušan Korać (disambiguation), multiple people * Milorad Korać (born 1969), Serbian football player and manager * Radivoj Korać (1938–1969), Serbian basketball player * Vitomir ...

. In his two games, Rhodes averaged 12.5 points and 13.0 rebounds. He had stellar season for Haukar in 1992-1993, leading the Úrvalsdeild in rebounds, points scored and coming in second in points per game. He helped Haukar reach the 1993 Úrvalsdeild finals where they lost to

Keflavík Keflavík (pronounced , meaning ''Driftwood Bay'') is a town in the Reykjanes region in southwest Iceland. It is included in the municipality of Reykjanesbær whose population as of 2016 is 15,129. In 1995, Keflavik merged with nearby Njarð ...

3-0. On November 13, 1993, Rhodes grabbed a personal best 30 rebounds against Körfuknattleiksfélag ÍA. He broke his record in 1995 by twice grabbing 31 rebounds in a single game, on November 9 against Tindstóll and on November 26 against Breiðablik. He was named to the 1995 Icelandic All-Star game where he earned its MVP honours. Rhodes retired in 1996, after five seasons in Iceland.

Coaching career

Rhodes started his coaching career as a

player-coach A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

for

Íþróttafélag Reykjavíkur Íþróttafélag Reykjavíkur or ÍR (English: Reykjavik Athletic Club) is an Icelandic multi-sport club, based in the suburb of Breiðholt in Reykjavík. It has teams in association football, football, Team handball, handball, basketball, athlet ...

. He led the club to the third-best record in 1994–95 with 24 wins and 8 losses. The regular season success did not continue in the playoffs though as the team got swept in the first round by Skallagrímur. During his second season at the helm of ÍR, the club finished seventh in the Úrvalsdeild and lost in the first round to Haukar. Rhodes spent nine years as an assistant at Ohio University under Larry Hunter and Tim O'Shea. He began as an assistant under Hunter before being named associate head coach by O'Shea prior to the 2004-05 season.

Personal life

Rhodes married his wife, Jackie, in 1995 in Hallgrímskirkja in Iceland. In February 2015, Rhodes was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma, a form of skin cancer. Four days later, while walking in Philadelphia, Rhodes was struck by a car crossing the street, resulting in a six-hour surgery to fix a fractured

tibia The tibia (; ), also known as the shinbone or shankbone, is the larger, stronger, and anterior (frontal) of the two bones in the leg below the knee in vertebrates (the other being the fibula, behind and to the outside of the tibia); it connects ...

and

fibula The fibula or calf bone is a leg bone on the lateral side of the tibia, to which it is connected above and below. It is the smaller of the two bones and, in proportion to its length, the most slender of all the long bones. Its upper extremity i ...

in his right leg. For cancer treatment, Rhodes underwent thirty-five radiation treatments and seven chemotherapy sessions over a seven-week span, which caused him to lose about 80 pounds. By late April, the tumor had disappeared.

References

External links