‘Winning was his system’: Legendary Jackson basketball coach Jake Caldwell dies at age 80

Jake Caldwell didn’t have a “system”.

Winning was his system.

“We were running a pro offense while still in high school,” said Julio Davila, who started for Caldwell at Miami Jackson during their lone championship season. “He was ahead of his time.”

Caldwell, the former Jackson coach who led perhaps the most talented high school basketball team in Florida history to an undefeated record (33-0) and a state title in 1973-74, died on Sunday.

He was 80.

In the days before his death, Caldwell had suffered a stroke, Davila said, and he never fully recovered. Among others, Caldwell left behind his wife Arselia — who was his college sweetheart — and their daughters Audrey and Arnetra.

Caldwell, who graduated from Tuskegee Institute in 1965, coached Mays High from 1966 to 1969, and he directed Jackson’s program from 1971 to 1988, building an overall record of 520-123. At Jackson, he went 473-101, including four straight trips to the state Final Four in the 1970s.

All five of Jackson’s starters in 1973-74 went on to play Division I basketball, and four of them — cousins Mychal and Charles Thompson as well as Cecil Rose and Osborne Lockhart — were drafted by the NBA. Their average margin of victory that season was 30 points.

Davila, who went on to play at Western Kentucky University, was the only Jackson starter who did not get drafted. But Davila, 67, is still playing basketball, competing internationally in master’s tournaments.

After Jackson won its state title, an investigation by Bill Brubaker of the now-defunct Miami News reported that the four Bahamian players — every starter except Davila — had used falsified birth records. In addition, Rose, at 20, was overage for high school basketball, according to Brubaker’s reporting.

Because of those issues, the Florida High School Activities Association put two black marks next to Jackson’s name in the record book, along with a note that reads: “Title won with four ineligible players.” The FHSAA asked for the trophy back, but Jackson declined the request.

Davila, though, said the FHSAA’s ruling didn’t bother Caldwell.

“He never paid attention to [the controversy],” Davila said. “As he would tell us: ‘The trophy is still sitting in our school.’”

The legacy of Jackson’s greatness that season - 50 years later - is still intact as well.

Mychal Thompson, for example, was the No. 1 overall pick in the 1978 NBA Draft. He won two NBA titles with the Los Angeles Lakers, and he is the father of Klay Thompson, a four-time league champ with the Golden State Warriors.

Even the bench players on that 73-74 Jackson team were highly talented. That includes Aaron Bryant, who played at Florida and at Western Kentucky, and Richard Harris, who competed for SMU.

Harris told the Herald this week that Caldwell was a master at assessing talent.

“In my three years at Jackson, we ran different schemes each season,” said Harris, who was The Herald’s All-Dade Boys’ Basketball Player of the Year in 1976. “He would come up with a scheme that fit his players.

“He didn’t force us into one type of system.”

Miami Norland Coach Lawton Williams III — who has won six state titles — said his career has been greatly influenced by Caldwell, who was a family friend.

Williams was 6 years old when Jackson went 33-0.

“I went to five or six of their games that season, and all I can remember thinking is, ‘Wow, they never lose,’” Williams said. “[Caldwel]) showed me the importance of making your players better young men. But he also made it OK to challenge yourself with wins and losses.

“Winning has always been a premium for me.”

Williams said Caldwell once visited one of his Norland practices.

“He was such a legend,” Williams said of Caldwell, who averaged 26 wins per season while at Jackson. “He told our kids that I was the closest thing to him. But he also said I wasn’t [as good as] him.”

You won’t get any argument as to Caldwell’s greatness from guys such as Harris, Davila and Lockhart, who all remained close with their former coach.

Lockhart, inducted into the Bahamas Hall of Fame in 2013, was a three-year starter at the University of Minnesota. Drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers in the sixth round in 1978, Lockhart instead played 17 years for the Harlem Globetrotters, where he was known as “Goose.”

It’s likely none of that would’ve happened without Caldwell.

“He studied the game and got the best out of his players,” Lockhart said of his beloved coach. “Off the court, we shared the same birthday (Nov. 12). We always talked two or three times a week.

“But, toward the end, we talked every day. I was like the son he never had.”

Harris said Caldwell, who also taught history at Jackson, could have been successful in any industry.

“I thought the world of him as a coach,” Harris said. “But as I got to know him better after high school, I discovered that he had a brilliant mind and was well versed in a lot of areas.”

Harris was a football player growing up, but, once he saw a Jackson basketball game as a ninth-grader, he was transformed. He joined the team as a sophomore.

“The first time I went to a Jackson basketball game, I felt like I was in the Bahamas,” said Harris, a native of Miami’s Liberty City. “They were playing music in the stands. It had that flavor.

“We called it JBE – the Jackson Basketball Experience.”

Caldwell was a young coach at that time, just about a decade older than his players. But he was a commanding presence.

“He was a confident speaker,” Harris said. “He spoke with assurance. I didn’t know much basketball when I got there. I learned from him. He made us champions.”

In addition to the state title in 1974, Caldwell led Jackson to a second-place finish in 1976.

Caldwell retired from coaching in 1988 at the age of 44. He stayed on as Jackson’s athletic director from 1993 to 2000, when he retired amid a grade-changing scandal that rocked the Generals football program.

As a basketball coach, he won 12 district titles, nine regional championships and seven sectionals, and seven of his players were drafted by the NBA. He helped 51 of his players earn basketball scholarships, including 21 to Division I schools.

In a 1988 Miami Herald article, Caldwell described coaching as a “stressful” situation.

“There were points in time when I was remorseful to leave [coaching],” Caldwell told then-Herald reporter Mike Phillips. “But [retiring] will give me an opportunity to spend a full Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s [with family].”

Davila said Caldwell had chances to become a college coach.

“He never wanted to do that,” Davila said. “He wanted to stay in high school and help kids get out of the neighborhood.”

Davila said Caldwell treated everyone with respect.

“When I first got to Jackson, I didn’t think I could play there because the guys were so good,” Davila said. “But [Caldwell] gave me confidence. He saw how I could shoot.

“[Caldwell] was like a second father to me. We’ve lost a great human being.”

A viewing for Caldwell will be held Monday at Range Funeral Home (5727 NW 17th Ave.) in Miami from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. and a Home Going Service will be held on Tuesday at 11 a.m. at New Birth Baptist Church Cathedral of Faith (2300 NW 135th St.) in Miami.

Miami Herald writer Santos A. Perez contributed to this report.

This story was originally published February 8, 2024 at 1:39 PM.