Alonzo Jamison made his mark as one of best defensive players in KU history

Alonzo Jamison's road to Kansas first began at Valley High School in Santa Ana, Calif. He lettered in four sports (track, football, baseball and basketball) and admits baseball was his favorite sport.

“It was the first sport I ever played,” Jamison told me in 2002 during our Where are they Now? interview. “It will always be near and dear to my heart.”

However, he “adopted” basketball as a sophomore, when he played on the varsity.

Jamison’s thought about his new sport at the time?

“I can get something out of this.”

The 6-6 forward, who idolized Julius Erving, Darryl Dawkins and Magic Johnson, was named All-League and All-County as a senior and selected team MVP four straight years for the Falcons.

Jamison then went to Rancho Santiago Junior College in 1987-88, where he was co-player of the year in the California junior college system, averaging 19.5 points and 12 rebounds per game. He shot 58 percent from the field and named MVP of the Orange Empire Conference and was a third-team junior college All-American. He was his team’s MVP, leading them to a 25-8 record.

Jamison, who then signed with KU in May 1988 over San Diego State and Oregon State, was KU coach Larry Brown’s last recruit.

He talked about his recruiting visit.

“As soon as I went to KU, two weeks after they won it (national title), I saw the campus and met the people,” Jamison said. “Scooter Barry and Milt Newton were my hosts. I knew that was the place I wanted to be.”

After sitting out the 1988-89 season because he didn’t meet the Big Eight junior college transfer rule requiring 24 transferable credit hours in the previous fall and spring, he was then not eligible to play in the fall semester of 1989 based on NCAA eligibility requirements.

Jamison finally became eligible in the 19th game of the season, averaging 11 minutes per game and shooting a scorching 61.4 percent from the field.

Then this California native had his coming out party during the 1990-91 Final Four season, arguably KU’s most consistent performer throughout the season while developing into a leader on the court in the later part of season.

He elevated his game during the NCAA Tournament, posting a double-double  (14 points, 10 boards) against Indiana in the Sweet 16 before exploding for a career-high 26 points and nine rebounds versus Arkansas in the Elite Eight. Jamison shot a sizzling 72 percent from the floor in the first four games of the Big Dance, including 18 of 24 in the Southeast Regional (Most Outstanding Player).

Jamison recorded a team-high 80 steals that junior season and set a KU single-game record with eight steals against Marquette. Only Darnell Valentine and Danny Manning had posted more steals in one season. He averaged 10.4 points and 6.4 rebounds per game while shooting 59.5 percent from the field, one of the top 10 percentages in KU history.

Entering his senior season, Jamison was one of 20 players on the preseason list for the John Wooden Award, given to college basketball’s best player. Considered one of the top defenders in the country, Jamison had the skills to guard quick, smaller players as well as opposing big men.

KU coach Roy Williams called Jamison “the quickest learned I have ever coached.” The 225-pounder was also the strongest player on the team with a 455-pound back squat and 302-pound power clean.

After helping lead KU to the Final Four the previous season, Jamison concluded his senior season averaging 10.0 points and 4.6 rebounds while recording a career-high 83 steals (2.59 spg) in 26.9 minutes per game. He shot 55.6 percent from the field and a career-best 67.6 percent at the charity stripe.

He told me he wanted to be “remembered for defense, tenacious defensive player.”

Indeed, he was.

Jamison also showed tenacity and perseverance after leaving KU in 1992 after majoring in communications. Fifteen years later, he received a bachelor’s degree.

He eventually developed type-2 diabetes and lost kidney function. By April 2015, Jamison was on dialysis eight to 10 hours daily. His life was eventually saved when Army veteran Shekinah Bailey donated his kidney to Jamison on Jan. 24, 2017. Just before he headed into transplant surgery, Jamison talked to KSHB about what Bailey’s gift meant to him.

"I think it's going to be gratefulness and I feel that now and I'm going to continue to feel that for that man over there," he said.

Bailey was also grateful to help Jamison.

“I saw the interview actually you did on Facebook," Bailey said. "It kind of dawned on me that it's like, if I'm willing to be a soldier and go out there and lay down my life what's a few months of inconvenience to give somebody a kidney?”

The surgery was successful and Jamison is feeling like a new person.

"You just don't know how it feels to have a gift like this,” he said. “This is just once in a lifetime type of situation and I can't put it into words.”

Jamison, a registered organ donor, is now giving back by being a Green Ribbon Champion for Midwest Transplant Network. His goal, as MTN reported on Nov. 1, 2018, “is to encourage more people in Kansas and Missouri to join the organ donor registry.”

Jan Finn, president and CEO of Midwest Transplant Network, greatly encourages more people like Jamison and Bailey to become organ donors and save lives.

“Nationwide, an average of 22 people die every day due to lack of available organs for transplants,” she said. “We have the power to change that. Alonzo and Shekinah are proof of it.”

Here is my 2002 Where are they Now? story on Jamison, where he talked about overcoming adversity to make his mark at KU and his fond relationship with Roy Williams. He called Williams “one of my closest friends.”

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Alonzo Jamison’s road to basketball glory at Kansas had a few bumps along the way. After signing with KU out of Rancho Santiago Junior College (Santa Ana, Calif.) in May, 1988, Jamison saw KU coach Larry Brown leave for the pros a month and half later. Then, Roy Williams was hired in July when Jamison learned he was academically ineligible and would have to sit out the 1988-89 season.

“Coach Williams had told me he would recruit me again if I wanted to go back to junior college another year,” Jamison said. “That’s when I knew he was genuine and really on a level that you don’t see that often in Division I. I decided it would be a lot better if I sat out a year and learned the system and try to help the team out the year after.”

After sitting out the season, Jamison was then sidelined an additional semester for failure to meet NCAA eligibility requirements. The year and a half layoff was a trying time for Jamison, who learned a great deal about perseverance and overcoming adversity. He said the struggles made him a better person.

“That’s when I finally knew (being declared academically ineligible the fall of 1989) I was going to have to buckle down and do my job,” Jamison said. “It sort of prepared me for life. Nobody really cares. After you play ball, you’re a has-been. You got to make your own way in life.  Nobody’s going to do it for you.”

A tenacious battler and unselfish player, Jamison (6-6, 225) eventually won over the hearts of the KU faithful and Williams with his work ethic and defense. Williams called Jamison the “quickest learner I’ve ever coached” and one of the top defensive players he’s had. Jamison, who ranks No. 6 all time at KU in career steals, possessed the strength and quickness to stop opponents both on the wing and in the post.

“He’s had a lot of good defensive players,” Jamison said. “He’s had a lot of good players, period. To even be mentioned in that type of context is kind of special. ... Anybody could score. At least that was my mentality. It was one of those things where it takes a very special person to go out and shut somebody down.”

Jamison was, indeed, a very special player. He’ll probably be most remembered by KU fans for leading the ‘Hawks into the 1991 Final Four with his career game against Arkansas in the 1991 Elite Eight. Jamison, who scored a career-high 26 points and grabbed nine rebounds, was masterful in keying a second half comeback win. He earned Most Outstanding Player of the Southeast Regional.

“To tell you the truth, I don’t remember a lot,” said Jamison about the victory. “I was more in a zone. People get in a zone and they don’t think about what you’re doing. You just react. I just felt the rim was a little bit bigger than what everybody else was looking at.”

Unfortunately, KU lost to Duke in the national title game. The following season, Jamison’s career ended on a sour note when Kansas was upset by UTEP in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. After concluding his collegiate career (10.0 ppg in 1991-92), Jamison tried his luck with professional basketball. He was released by Denver in rookie camp and then sliced by the Los Angeles Lakers in veterans camp. Jamison next played six months in Sweden and two months in France. A few months later upon returning home in 1993, Jamison ruptured his Achilles and had surgery. He then decided to give up the game.

“It was pretty difficult at the time,” Jamison said. “It was one of those things where my body was falling apart pretty good (Jamison also had knee surgery after being cut by Los Angeles) so there wasn’t a lot I could do about it. The mind was willing but the body wasn’t.”

Jamison admits there were other reasons he quit basketball.

“I was so instilled with the team atmosphere and team game in college, I couldn’t take myself out of that realm and put it towards the individual one-on-one game,” Jamison said. “I think that was my biggest downfall. ... The professional level is completely different than the college level. For college, you’re playing for pride of the school. Professionally, it’s a business.”

Jamison moved on with his life and became a manager for Applebees restaurant in 1994. After working there two years, he changed professions and entered the banking business. He was a branch manager for Commerce Bank in Kansas City for four years before switching to Bank of Blue Valley. Jamison works with commercial lending as the business development manager for the past year.

“I enjoy meeting people and getting to know people’s needs and try to fit our product with what their needs are,” he said.

When he’s not working, Jamison keeps busy spending time with his wife and three children. And, of course, he follows the Jayhawks. Jamison calls Williams about once a month, “just to see where his head his and give him a pat on the back and let him know he’s still the man.” The California native will never forget the statement Williams made at the awards banquet in 1992 — that Jamison meant so much to the program, he would give the shirt off his back to him.

“It’s one of those things that is still in my mind,” Jamison said. “He’s a very special person. For somebody to believe in me and my skills when he didn’t even know me to tell me he would recruit me again out of loyalty not only from him but the university, we can just say that coach is one of my closest friends.”

Jamison admits their relationship was rough at first.

"All friendships are going to have a rocky stage,” Jamison said. “Ours was at the beginning.  I’m just glad he saw something in me that he liked, and we just persevered. I’ve been through a lot with that man.”

A Closer Look at Alonzo Jamison:

Years at KU: 1988-1992

Career Notables: Member of the 1991 Final Four team...Most Outstanding Player of the Southeast Regional in ‘91...Tied with Nick Bradford for most steals in one game (Jamison had 8 steals twice)...No. 6 all time in career steals and No. 4 in career field goal percentage (58 percent).

Family: Wife, Jennifer, daughter Michaela, 6, and twins — Elise, 3, Olivia, 3.

Education: Jamison majored in communications. (He earned a bachelor's degree in 2007).

Since Leaving KU: After being cut by Denver and Los Angeles, Jamison played six months in Sweden and two months in France. He then quit basketball and worked as manager at Applebees for two years (1994 and ‘95). Next, Jamison switched professions and was branch manager for Commerce Bank for four years before becoming business development officer for Bank of Blue Valley.

Currently: Jamison is business development officer for Bank of Blue Valley in Overland Park, Kan.

Hobbies: Golf.

Favorite KU Memories: 1991 Final Four. “Having that 1991 team go to the Final Four when there’s only maybe four or five teams that actually did that in the history of KU basketball, that’s special in itself.”...Breaking the basketball support with a dunk during Midnight Madness in October, 1988. “I remember just the crowd going crazy. I was coming down after the dunk on two feet with the rim still in my hand. I didn’t feel any pain or anything, but I got a four or five inch gash on the top of my head. I still have it to this day.”