Former Simeon Star and TF North Coach Tim Bankston Fatally Shot in Auburn Gresham Home

Tim Bankston, a former Simeon High School basketball star and the longtime boys basketball coach at Thornton Fractional North High School, was found fatally shot inside a home in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood on Wednesday morning.

Chicago police said Bankston, 60, was discovered unresponsive with a gunshot wound to his abdomen around 10 a.m. in the 7600 block of South Emerald Avenue. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Police reported no other injuries and made no arrests as of Wednesday afternoon. No further details about a suspect or motive have been released.

According to police radio traffic, a 911 caller reported that a friend inside the home was "not breathing" just before 10 a.m. An officer arrived roughly 10 minutes later and found Bankston dead with a gunshot wound to the abdomen. The officer located a single shell casing in the basement of the building. A police dispatcher said there had been no reports of shots fired in the area over the previous 24 hours, which suggested Bankston may have been dead for some time before he was found.

Sean Wright, a close friend and former Simeon teammate, said he was told to get to the scene as quickly as possible. "We don't know what happened yet," Wright said. "They said they found my brother's body and to come as fast as you can. From what the officer said, it looked like he had been laying there overnight."

By Wednesday afternoon, a large group of family members, former Simeon teammates and former TF North players had gathered outside the house on Emerald Avenue to grieve and support one another. Former Simeon basketball coach Robert Smith, who later coached Derrick Rose and Jabari Parker, stopped by the scene, along with other alumni of the South Side school.

Bankston's basketball career began with Simeon's 1984 state championship team. He started at point guard, scoring a game-high 25 points and grabbing 12 rebounds in the title game against Evanston. He went on to play one season at Bradley University and two seasons at Loyola University Chicago before returning to coaching. He was later inducted into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame as a player.

Bankston had been the head coach at Thornton Fractional North in Calumet City since 2002, building a program that rarely drew statewide headlines but produced generations of South Side and south suburban players. He was married to his wife, Lorna, and the couple had three children. The family lived in Gary, Indiana.

Bankston was a teammate of Ben Wilson, the nation's top-rated high school player, who was shot and killed on the South Side in November 1984 just before his senior season was set to begin. Bankston appeared in a 2012 ESPN documentary about Wilson's life and death, alongside NBA players Nick Anderson, Tim Hardaway and Juwan Howard, all of whom came through the Simeon program.

17th Ward Ald. David Moore, a Simeon graduate, said he learned of Bankston's death while returning home from another event. "I was coming from an event and saw the tape," Moore said. "The police had not put out the report to me yet. I was on my way back home and my friend told me he was gone." Moore said the news brought back memories of Wilson's killing four decades earlier. "I cannot believe this," he said. "It just brings back all the things with Benji. It was not supposed to go like this."

Teri Sampson, another Simeon teammate, remembered Bankston as the emotional anchor of that 1984 title team. "In my opinion, he was the second best point guard to come out of Simeon after Derrick Rose," Sampson said. "Tough-minded. He was the one responsible for our toughness. Benji was obviously the most talented. But the leader of that team was Tim, by far. He had a willpower that was strong." Sampson said he and Bankston had known each other since kindergarten, and that Bankston had convinced both him and Wilson to attend Simeon together.

Both players came up under Bob Hambric, the Simeon coach who barred his players from speaking directly with reporters or college recruiters. "He learned discipline and structure from Bob Hambric," Sampson said of Bankston.

Bankston never sought attention as a high school coach, and his teams at TF North rarely made headlines outside the south suburbs. His death drew condolences from former teammates, coaches and city officials who knew his name from the 1984 championship run.

Chicago police continue to investigate the shooting. No arrests have been announced, and detectives have not said whether they have identified a suspect or a motive. Anyone with information has been asked to contact Chicago police detectives, though authorities have released no tip line or additional case details beyond the initial statement.