ABILENE, Texas – Former high school and college basketball coach Jerry Stone will be holding a book signing for his recently released, Save Them All: One Coach's Quest, at Saturday's basketball games versus Hardin-Simmons.
The book will be available to purchase for $20. It follows Stone's 42 years as a high school and collegiate basketball coach, viewing the game through the eyes of the player, coach and even the parent.
"The main theme was that you are always hearing people say you can't do it in many forms, and you got to understand that that's just somebody talking," Stone said. "You can do a lot of things, and you may not be the best scorer, or the guy that gets his name in the paper, but you can help a team immensely."
Stone played basketball at McMurry from 1959-64, playing under head coach Hershel Kimbrell. He twice earned All-NAIA District VIII honors and was a member of the 1962 team that advanced to the NAIA national tournament. He was inducted into the McM Hall of Honor in 1992.
"It will be nice to welcome Coach Stone back to campus to offer his extraordinary work," said Sam Ferguson, McMurry Director of Athletics. "This is not only a book about a coach with more than 800 wins to his credit, but it also focuses on the value that sports like basketball add to the lives of scholar-athletes. I'm enjoying my copy of Save Them All and hope all of our fans will plan on leaving the game on Saturday with their own signed copy."
He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant on the McMurry staff from 1963-65. He spent the next eight years as a high school coach at Mexia, Amarillo Caprock and Richardson High Schools. Stone entered the college coaching ranks as the head coach at Tarleton State (1973-76), served as an assistant at Midwestern State (1976-77) and then took over as the head coach at Midland Junior College (1977-87). After a year at UT-Arlington (1987-88), Stone became the head coach at Cameron University in Lawton, Okla. before coaching at Rockwall High School.
While at Midland JC, Stone coached future NBA players Spud Webb and Mookie Blaylock. Stone won the JUCO national championship – as well as national Coach of the Year honors – in 1982 and 1987, with his 1985 and 1987 squads placing fourth and second, respectively. He was a four-time Texas junior college Coach of the Year. In 1986, he took a USA All-Star team on a three-week playing tour in Chile.
