Editor's Note: NDHSAA Media Specialist Tom Mix will periodically feature former student athletes and participants of NDHSAA-sponsored sports and activities on the NDHSAA NOW website (www.ndhsaanow.com).

This week's NDHSAA Member School Alumni Spotlight shines on Phil Jackson, a 1963 graduate of Williston High School. Below is a list of accomplishments in Jackson's career in basketball as a player and as a coach.

PHIL JACKSON - PREP BASKETBALL STANDOUT AT WILLISTON HIGH SCHOOL

GRADUATION YEAR: 1963

HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETICS CAREER

• Helped Williston to an NDHSAA Class A boys basketball state championship in 1963. Williston defeated Grand Fork Central 64-50 in the title game held in Grand Forks.

• Also threw discus for the Coyotes’ track and field team.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL CAREER

• Played for coach Bill Fitch at UND.

• Helped the Fighting Sioux to a third-place finish in the 1965 NCAA Division II National Tournament.

• Helped the Fighting Sioux to a fourth-place finish in the 1966 NCAA Division II National Tournament.

• Named to NCAA Division II All-American First Team in 1966 and 1967.

• Two-time North Central Conference Player of the Year (1966 and 1967).

• Three-time All-North Central Conference Team selection (1965, 1966, 1967). 

• Graduated from UND in 1967.

• Scored a total of 1,708 points in three seasons played at UND (19.9 points per game.

• Also posted 1,109 rebounds in his career at UND.

PROFESSIONAL BASKETBALL CAREER

PLAYER

• Drafted in the second round of the 1967 NBA Draft (17th overall) by the New York Knicks.

• Named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team in 1968.

• Played 12 NBA seasons (10 with the New York Knicks and two with the New Jersey Nets). Entire playing career spanned from 1967-1980.

• Scored a total of 5,428 points in his career including 3,454 rebounds and 898 assists.

• Part of two NBA Championship teams while with the Knicks (1970 and 1973).

• Helped his team advance to the NBA playoffs eight times in his playing career.

• Appeared in the NBA Finals twice in his playing career (1972 and 1973). Jackson was injured the entire 1969-70 championship season for the Knicks.   

COACH

• Coached the Albany Patroons to the 1984 Continental Basketball Association (CBA) championship in 1984.

• Served as an assistant coach for the New Jersey Nets (1978-1981, part of which while he was still playing for the team) and the Chicago Bulls (1987-1989).

• Named the head coach of the Chicago Bulls in 1989.

• Coached the Chicago Bulls from 1989-1998 (nine seasons).

• Guided the Chicago Bulls to six NBA Championships (1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998).

• Coached the Los Angeles Lakers from 1999-2004 and 2005-2011 (11 total seasons)

• Guided the Los Angeles Lakers to five NBA Championships (2000, 2001, 2002, 2009, 2010).

• Was the NBA Coach of the Year for the 1995-96 NBA season. His Bulls squad posted a 72-10 record that season.

• Coached his teams to a total of 13 NBA Finals appearances in his 20-year tenure as an NBA coach.

• Holds a 1,155-485 career win loss record as a head coach during the regular season (.704 winning percentage)

• His teams posted a winning record in all 20 of his NBA seasons as a head coach.

• Inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach in 2007. 

OTHER HONORS

• Williston’s Athletic Complex was named Phil Jackson Fieldhouse in 1992 and was in operation until 2016.

• North Dakota’s Theodore Roosevelt Rough Rider Award Recipient - July 30, 1992

• Inducted into the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) National High School Hall of Fame in 1994.

• Inducted into the North Dakota Sports Hall of Fame.

• Honorary Degree Recipient from UND in 2008.