Jack Evens, the first boys basketball coach at Bloomington Jefferson High School and the man behind the Jaguars' 4 state championships, died Oct. 16 at age 92.
Evens coached the Jaguars for 26 years and won state titles in 1976, 1982, 1986 and 1987, with several more state tournament trips and conference championships along the way. Before Jefferson opened, he taught at Kennedy High School. He also coached sophomore football with Jake Lynch, who spent years beside him on the basketball bench too.
His Jefferson tenure ran from 1970 to 1995. His son Jeff took over as head coach in 1997, and between them the 2 Evens coaches account for the program's 792 wins and all 4 of its state titles. That's a lot of history for 1 family and 1 gym.
Evens was an athlete long before he was a coach. At Superior Central High School in Superior, Wisconsin, he helped take the basketball team to the 1954 state championship game. He later attended UW-Superior. The Minneapolis Lakers drafted him in the mid-1950s, and he served in the Korean War.
Jeff Evens has spent 42 seasons with the Jefferson program, including 11 coaching alongside his father. He said he always wanted to follow his father's example as a teacher and coach. "It's not what do I want to do, it's who do I want to be," he said.
He described his father's coaching style this way: "He always did things the right way. … He wasn't a screamer. He didn't yell at a kid if they made a mistake. It was all positive."
Coaching runs in the family. Michael Evens now coaches Jefferson's JV and varsity teams. Jack's son Tim Evens is an engineer. Jack's wife died 9 years ago.
He kept busy away from the gym, too. Evens officiated NCAA Division II football and basketball, volunteered at Transfiguration Lutheran Church and taught confirmation classes there. He also volunteered with Loaves and Fishes and Meals on Wheels.
Memorial service plans had not been announced yet.
