Ben "Benji" Wilson was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

 player who was shot to death on the eve of the start of his senior season in high school.

Born Benjamin Wilson Jr. in Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

, Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

.

Wilson led Chicago's Simeon Vocational High School to the Illinois State Championship in 1984.

During his three year tenure, he was scouted out by many NBA teams.

He was killed only days after receiving a full collegiate scholarship to the University of Illinois.

His friend and Simeon teammate, former NBA and University of Illinois player Nick Anderson

Nick Anderson

Nelison "Nick" Anderson is a former American professional basketball player. He attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for two years, playing on the team that reached the NCAA Final Four in 1989. That Fighting Illini team gained the moniker "Flyin' Illini" by Dick Vitale while...

, wore jersey number 25 during his career in his honor.

His story was the focus of a 1997 Nike

Nike, Inc.

Nike, Inc. is a major publicly traded sportswear and equipment supplier based in the United States. The company is headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon, which is part of the Portland metropolitan area...

 advertisement that aired during the NBA Playoffs, which featured an aged man stating:

"One out of every five black men die before they reach the age of twenty-five.

That was Benji's number. Benji was the first in Chicago history to ever be named top high school player in the nation, right before he was gunned down.

But you know what? Benji's not dead: Benji's spirit lives on in every jump shot.

Remember: Shoot over brothas, not at them."

Current Chicago Bulls

Chicago Bulls

The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago, Illinois, playing in the Central Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association . The team was founded in 1966. They play their home games at the United Center...

 guard Derrick Rose

Derrick Rose

Derrick Martell Rose is an American professional basketball player for the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association ....

 graduated from Simeon in 2007.

Throughout his high school career he wore number 25 and continued Wilson's winning legacy at the school by winning two state championships in 2006 and 2007.

Further Reading

• 20 Year Tragedy (Chicago Sports Review, December 2004)
• The Well-Guarded Guard (Sports Illustrated, November 20. 2006)