There are several great athetes who hail from Montana: 2-time World Series champ Dave McNally was born in Billings, 2006 NCAA scoring champ Adam Morrison is from Glendive, and Pro Football Hall of Famer Jerry Kramer grew up in Jordan. Another player on the list is Jack Gillespie: he graduated from Great Falls High School after leading his team to a Montana High School Basketball championship in 1964, then went Montana State and graduated with the most PTS/REB in school history. He was a 2-time Big Sky POY and was later inducted into the Montana State Hall of Fame. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Jack’s former coach Roger Craft and former teammate Nick Fullerton about Jack’s great career. Today is Jack’s 74th birthday so let us be the 1st to wish him a happy 1!
Jack graduated from Great Falls High School after leading his team to a state title in 1964: what did it mean to him to win a title? Roger Craft: He had a good ball game. He finally started to come into his own as a senior and was pretty dominant.
What made him choose Montana State? RC: Mainly because we were getting all the kids out there at the time! We were the top ball club in the state and we had good support in Great Falls.
He averaged a double-double during each of his 3 years on the varsity: how did he balance his scoring with his rebounding? RC: He was a great natural rebounder in terms of anticipating where the ball would go and he had great timing. He was great at both offensive/defensive rebounding. He started shooting a hook when he got here and could make it from anywhere on the court while also being able to follow it up at the same time. Nick Fullerton: He was a big presence on the court and was fun to play with. He had a hook shot that nobody else ever had.
He graduated as the school’s all-time leader with 1543 PTS/1011 REB: did you realize at the time how prolific a player he was? RC: I realized how good he was. His biggest problem at 1st was his lack of confidence: he had just come out of a growth spurt and was not sure of himself. When he found out that he could actually do some things then he was all right. He was competitive: he never lost to Montana and took pride in that. NF: No. We knew that he was talented and could do a lot of things.
He was a 2-time Big Sky POY/All-American: what did it mean to him to receive such outstanding honors? RC: I think that he was proud of the honors but was not overbearing. He started in the East-West All-Star game as a senior and did a good job there.
He played 2 games in the ABA with the New York Nets during the 1969–70 season before playing 6 years in Europe: how proud are you of all his success? RC: He got traded to New York before heading to Europe. I knew that he had the ability to do it but was unsure if he had the confidence to go along with it. I hoped that the ball club he signed with would develop him, and if so then I knew he would be good in the long run. In the pros you have to prove yourself immediately or you are gone! NF: I think it is unbelievable that a person from Montana could go on to do that: the exposure in the northwest is pretty limited.
In 1999 Sports Illustrated included him on its list of Montana’s 50 all-time greatest athletes: what do people in Big Sky Country think about him? RC: He was 1 of our best athletes but we had others like Mike Lewis at Duke/Wayne Estes at Utah State. He might not be #1 but is definitely in the top-5 of college basketball players. NF: They think the world of him. You know everybody everywhere here and it is primarily due to sports. Everyone was excited about that.
When people look back on his career, how do you think that he should be remembered the most? RC: He is in the school’s Hall of Fame and was highly regarded. NF: I think that he should be remembered for his hook shot! It was such a unique shot and was pretty special.