William Joseph Jesko (December 24, 1915 – October 21, 1961) was an American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player. He played college basketball for the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...

where he was the team captain in his

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

year in 1936–37. Jesko then played in the National Basketball League for two years for the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central ...

and averaged 5.7 points per game. He served in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, then coached high school basketball until 1961, when he unexpectedly died in his home.

Career statistics

NBL

Source

Regular season

References

* 1915 births 1961 deaths American men's basketball players United States Army personnel of World War II Basketball players from Pittsburgh Forwards (basketball) Guards (basketball) High school basketball coaches in the United States Pittsburgh Panthers men's basketball players Pittsburgh Pirates (NBL) players 20th-century American sportsmen {{1910s-US-basketball-bio-stub