Basketball: Boston Celtics Hall of Famer K.C. Jones dies at 88

Basketball Hall of Famer K.C. Jones, an Olympic gold medalist and two-time NCAA champion who won eight straight NBA titles during the Celtics' Bill Russell era and then coached the Boston teams with Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish to two more championships in the 1980s, has died. He was 88. The Celtics said Jones' family confirmed that he died on Friday at an assisted living facility in Connecticut, where he had been receiving care for Alzheimer's disease for several years. "K.C. was the nicest man I ever met. He always went out of his way to make people feel good, it was such an honour to play for him," Bird said in a statement. "His accomplishments are too many to list, but, to me, his greatest accomplishment was being such an outstanding person to all who had the privilege of knowing him, I will miss him dearly." Jones is one of seven players in history to have won an Olympic gold medal, an NCAA championship and an NBA title. He won two more NBA crowns as an assistant coach and was the Celtics head coach when they went to the NBA Finals four straight years from 1984-87, winning it all in '84 and again two years later with a team that won a then-record 67 regular-season games and went 15-3 in the postseason.