James Blackmon gives up dream job at Marion for family

After 15 years as a boys basketball coach, James Blackmon finally had landed his dream job. On May 11 he was named head coach at his alma mater, Marion (Ind.), where he scored a school-record 1,879 points, made the McDonald's All-American team and still is idolized.

The Marion Giants have won seven Indiana state basketball championships – second only to Muncie Central's eight - and have produced numerous great players.

However, in the next few weeks the highly successful coach at Bishop Luers (Fort Wayne, Ind.) stepped back with his wife and three sons and took one more look at their planned move. Something just didn't feel right and before he officially signed the Marion contract, he decided to stay at Luers.

Above all, family comes first with the Blackmons, who will continue to view Fort Wayne as their home.

"We weighed the pros and cons and definitely considered all the options," Blackmon told MaxPreps. "I considered the situation with my wife (a Fort Wayne doctor) and relocating the kids. Two of my boys are at Canterbury and we are comfortable. My sons (including James Jr., a rising Luers sophomore) have really established good names for themselves and did it all in Fort Wayne."

The Blackmons have been married for 17 years and Sailaja Blackmon has been a gynecologist both in Marion – where her husband coached the JV team for three years – and Fort Wayne. Mrs. Blackmon noted, "Initially we thought it would be a great opportunity for James. We felt it was the right decision. Through the process a lot of negatives came out. I hope we didn't pressure him too much.

"It was hard, because I think he would have done a great job there. We had to think of the family as a whole. I feel like we're settled. I feel good and the kids feel good. He's always been happy at Luers."

Being a coach's wife isn't always easy, particularly when she also has a medical practice.

She admitted, "Sometimes you have to go through periods of a few months when you feel like a single mom. But James is always there for the kids. He's a father first. He spends a lot of time with the kids. They're doing something they love. This was not my passion, but it has become my passion."

Coach Blackmon actually has a budding franchise in his own house. James Blackmon, Jr. is a 6-foot-3 rising sophomore guard who led Luers in scoring (20.8) as a freshman and is ranked among the best nationally in his class. Vijay is ranked among the nation's elite rising eighth graders by the Hoop Scoop and rising third grader Jalen might be the best one of them all some day.

James Jr. told MaxPreps, "He actually sacrificed a lot, because I think he really wanted to take it. Sometimes he's a little more tougher on me than other players, because he tries to get more out of me. I've had some long lectures. I enjoy it, because he just wants to make his players better."

The senior Blackmon looks back fondly at growing up in a basketball hotbed where he idolized such players as Mr. Basketball Dave Colescott and Jerry Freshwater.

"Basketball actually was my motivation as a kid," he noted. "I started applying myself a lot and going to games. I always dreamed about becoming a Marion Giant."

All of that dedication paid off with a brilliant career during which he was runner-up for Mr. Basketball and poured in a record 52 points during an historic 89-87 double-overtime loss to Anderson (Ind.) in the Class 4A state semifinals. Anderson's Troy Lewis countered with 42.

He later starred in the 1983 McDonald's All-American game as the West overcame a 16-point deficit to nip the East, 115-113, at the Omni in Atlanta. Blackmon, in fact, was the hero by scoring 13 of his 21 points – including the last five of the game – in the fourth quarter.

"Stepping on the floor with the caliber of players like Pearl Washington and Kenny Smith, that was fun. We played the game with passion," Blackmon said.

At a McDonald's Restaurant in New York City that spring, Blackmon's picture was on the placemats. Recruited by major colleges throughout the country, the 6-3 Blackmon chose Kentucky, where he amassed 866 points, 314 rebounds, 271 assists and 149 steals while starting three of the four years. He played on a Final Four team as a freshman and served as co-captain during his senior year.

Oh, yes, and he met his wife at Kentucky.

Blackmon majored in social work at UK and there never was a hint of coaching. In 1987 he was drafted by the New Jersey Nets and made the 12-man roster. However, a trade put the Nets over the limit and he ended up being the odd man out, leading to an eight-year career evenly split between the CBA and World Basketball League.

His playing days behind him, Blackmon began a three-year stretch as JV boys basketball coach at Marion. His high school coach, Bill Green, and one of his college coaches, Joe B. Hall, did not foresee the move. Green recalls Blackmon as a very quiet teenager, but still one of the top three players he ever coached. Now retired in Florida, Green was able to watch Blackmon in action during a state tournament.

He noted, "(He coached) very aggressively. His timeouts were good. He surprised me as a young coach and his team behaved themselves well."

Coach Hall, who now shares a radio program with legendary coach Denny Crum, said, "No, I didn't (expect him to become a coach). But I'm not surprised. He played for a real good high school coach and had myself and Eddie Sutton in college. I'm really pleased that he's found his calling."

Sliding into coaching could be described almost as osmosis. Blackmon explained, "Just being around basketball always was fun for me, working with young kids at the high school level. I still had a desire to be around the game. I play the style I enjoyed as a player, an up-tempo type game and being flexible on defense."

Three years with the Marion JV were followed by five years as an assistant at St. Francis College in Fort Wayne. When he was hired by Luers, Blackmon inherited a team that had a woeful 7-33 record over the previous two years.

All he's done since then is compile a sparkling 117-47 record with a pair of Class 2A state titles in seven years. The two championship years were paced by 6-7 All-American Deshaun Thomas, who wound up as the No. 3 scorer in Indiana history with 3,018 points.

Ironically, Blackmon twice flirted with the Marion job during his earlier years at Luers. The first time, Marion went a different route and the second time he turned the job down because he had a shot at winning a rare third consecutive state title.

So, now firmly established at Luers, Blackmon looks forward to the 2011-2012 season with James Jr. leading the way. In another year Vijay will likely join his older brother on the varsity.

This year he will have only coaching duties at Luers and will be selling real estate on the side. If he ever needs any extra coaching help, young Jalen always is ready. Mrs. Blackmon recalled Jalen at age 3 or 4 running up to the Luers bench during a regional game and telling his dad to put a certain player back into the game.

"He thought about it," she recalled.

"You know Jalen's probably right," he told her, and he soon put that player back into the game.

Bill Green, who holds the Indiana record with six state basketball titles, has the last word: "I'm going to be with him, but when he gets to No. 5, I'm going to be nervous."