K.C. Jones Almost Ended Up Playing Football for the Rams

K.C. Jones, who on Tuesday was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., came close to playing football for the Rams instead of basketball for the Boston Celtics.

After teaming with Bill Russell to lead the University of San Francisco to consecutive national championships in 1955 and 1956 and the United States to the Olympic gold medal in ‘56, Jones spent two years in the Army.

After he was discharged, he tried out for the Rams as a cornerback, and made the team.

“I didn’t think I was good enough to make the NBA,” Jones said. “But I had an injury that would have gotten worse if I had continued to play football.”

The Celtics had drafted Jones in 1956 and were willing to wait two years for his services.

“I called Red Auerbach and asked if there was still a spot for me on the team,” Jones said. “Had Red said no, I would have gone back to the Rams.”

Note: The Celtics offered Jones a yearly salary of $10,000.

Bittersweet week: All things considered, Lenny Wilkens, coach of the Cavaliers, would rather have been in Cleveland Tuesday.

Wilkens, who along with Jones and William (Pop) Gates was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame Tuesday, was still thinking about Michael Jordan’s shot, the one that knocked the Cavaliers out of the National Basketball Assn. playoffs Sunday.

“I’m still not over it,” he said.

Trivia time: Who is the oldest coach in the NBA?

Early finish: We’re only into the second round of the NBA playoffs, but on this day 16 years ago, the New York Knicks won the NBA championship with a 102-93 victory over the Lakers in Game 5.

Romance Department: Mark Gastineau and Brigette Nielsen, appearing on the “Arsenio Hall Show” Monday night, said they are back together, and Nielsen is expecting a baby.

“We got back together and it was a bonus,” Gastineau, the former defensive end for the New York Jets, said as he rubbed Nielsen’s tummy.

Nielsen is 6 feet and Gastineau is 6-5, 260. “I just hope it’s a boy,” Nielsen said. “Could you imagine a girl our size?”

Trivia answer: Detroit’s Chuck Daly at 58.

Quotebook: Detroit Manager Sparky Anderson, talking about a player’s injured shoulder: “There’s nothing wrong with his shoulder except some pain--and pain don’t hurt you.”