Tim Bankston, 60, a basketball legend who led Simeon Vocational to the 1984 state championship and spent more than 20 years coaching at Thornton Fractional North High School in Calumet City, was found shot and killed inside a home in the 7600 block of South Emerald Street in Auburn Gresham on Wednesday morning. No arrests have been made.

A man who shaped generations of Chicago basketball players as both a legendary player and a beloved coach for more than two decades was found shot and killed in his Auburn Gresham home Wednesday morning leaving a community in shock and grief.

Chicago Police responded just before 10 a.m. Wednesday to the 7600 block of South Emerald Street in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood and found Tim Bankston, 60, unresponsive with a gunshot wound to the abdomen inside a home.

He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the victim as Tim Bankston.

No arrests have been made. Area Two detectives are investigating.

Photo shared by the community

A Basketball Legend

Tim Bankston’s story began at Simeon Vocational High School where he played alongside Chicago basketball legend Ben Wilson under legendary coach Bob Hambric.

In the 1983 to 1984 season Bankston delivered one of the greatest individual performances in Chicago high school basketball history leading Simeon to their first city and state championship.

In the state title game Bankston scored 25 points outplaying Evanston’s Everett Stephens to secure the championship.

He went on to play college basketball at Bradley University and Loyola University and had a brief NBA opportunity.

Ben Wilson the Chicago basketball prodigy who was Bankston’s close friend and teammate was shot and killed in November 1984 just before the start of his senior season.

Wilson’s death devastated Chicago’s basketball community and left a mark on everyone who knew him including Bankston.

Jeff Wilson Ben Wilson’s brother mourned Bankston on social media Wednesday.

“One of Ben Wilson’s best friends as well as a basketball legend and so instrumental in Ben Wilson’s life. Tim was a straight up legend. He was another big brother to me. My heart is heavy now and praying for justice to be served in finding his murderer,” Jeff Wilson wrote.

Photo shared by the community

A Coach Who Changed Lives

Bankston joined Thornton Fractional North High School in Calumet City in 1997 as a special education teacher’s aide and assistant basketball coach.

In 2002 he became the head coach of the basketball program where he spent more than 20 years shaping young men on and off the court.

Thornton Fractional High School District 215 announced his death Wednesday.

“Coach Bankston became a TF North Meteor in 1997. His life experiences growing up on the south side of Chicago, playing for legendary Simeon Coach Bob Hambric, winning a State Championship, and losing his close friend, teammate, and Chicago legend Ben Wilson to gun violence, gave him insight and credibility as he inspired hundreds of students and athletes to be the best players and people they could be. He was not just beloved. He was a mentor that countless alumni credit for being the overriding influence that made them into the positive, productive members of communities that they are today,” the district said.

Former players and students filled social media with tributes Wednesday describing Bankston as a father figure, mentor, and the coach who believed in them when no one else did.

One parent wrote that Bankston told her to not let anyone play with her son and that the boy just needed someone to believe in him and listen to him.

Another former player credited Bankston with helping him earn a college scholarship to Western Washington University and teaching him what it meant to become a man.

“The lessons you taught went far beyond basketball and I will carry them with me forever,” the former player wrote.

The 7600 block of South Emerald Street sits in Chicago’s Auburn Gresham neighborhood within the 6th District on the Far South Side.

Anyone with information about Tim Bankston’s death is asked to contact Chicago Police or submit an anonymous tip at cpdtip.com.

Chicago Crime Chaser will update this story as more information becomes available including any arrests.