Wallace Clayton "Wah Wah" Jones (July 14, 1926 – July 27, 2014) was an American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player. He played in the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

(NBA) from 1949 to 1952 with the

Indianapolis Olympians The Indianapolis Olympians were a founding National Basketball Association (NBA) team based in Indianapolis. They were founded in 1949 and folded in 1953. Their home arena was Butler Fieldhouse on the campus of Butler University--now known as H ...

Biography

Jones was born in

Harlan, Kentucky Harlan is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of Harlan County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 1,745 at the 2010 census, down from 2,081 at the 2000 census. Harlan is one of three Kentucky county seats to share its name w ...

. He attended Harlan High School, where he set a national scoring record in basketball and led his school to a state championship. He was all-state in football, basketball and baseball. Jones attended the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentu ...

, 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 Events January * January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2022. * January 2 – Luis ...

. Jones was a member of the 1948 Olympic Gold medal winning team with Adolph Rupp's " Fabulous Five" and the

Phillips 66ers The Phillips 66ers (also known as the Oilers) were an amateur basketball team located in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, and sponsored and run by the Phillips Petroleum Company. The 66ers were a national phenomenon that grew from a small-town team to an ...

. 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 Adolph Frederick Rupp (September 2, 1901 – December 10, 1977) was an American college basketball coach. He is ranked seventh in total victories by a men's NCAA Division I college coach, winning 876 games in 41 years of coaching at the Univ ...

(basketball) and

Bear Bryant Paul William "Bear" Bryant (September 11, 1913 – January 26, 1983) was an American college football player and coach. He is considered by many to be one of the greatest college football coaches of all time, and best known as the head coach of ...

(

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

) 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 Phi Delta Theta (), commonly known as Phi Delt, is an international secret and social fraternity founded at Miami University in 1848 and headquartered in Oxford, Ohio. Phi Delta Theta, along with Beta Theta Pi and Sigma Chi form the Miami Triad ...

fraternity. Jones was selected in the seventh round of the 1949 NFL Draft by the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

, but did not play in the league. Wallace-Jones-jersey

In 1953, Jones was elected the

sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...

Fayette County, Kentucky Fayette County is located in the central part of the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 322,570, making it the second-most populous county in the commonwealth. Its territory, population and government are coextens ...

.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 The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

. Though

Dwight Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

, heading the Republican ticket, carried the state, Jones lost the election to Democrat

John C. Watts John Clarence Watts (July 9, 1902 – September 24, 1971) was a U.S. Representative from Kentucky. Born in Nicholasville, Kentucky, Watts attended the public schools. He was graduated from the University of Kentucky in 1925 and from its law sc ...

. In 1978, Jones started a charter bus company called "Blue Grass Tours" that was contracted to the UK Athletics department and more recently purchased a custom sleeper

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

for the use of the athletic teams.

"Wah Wah"

Known as Wallace in his early years, Jones acquired the

nickname A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...

, "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.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Wallace 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 (basketball) United States men's national basketball team players Washington Capitols draft picks