weakley dies

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SoCalHoops High School News

Crenshaw Assistant Coach Weakley Dies,
Police Seek Leads--(June 22, 1999)

We hate to report news like the following, but this was actually pretty big news all over LA at the Saturday morning Watts Summer Games; people in the gyms were talking, whispering, and speculating on what happened and how it happened.
Cutting to the bottom line, the Los Angeles Times reported in it's Metro Edition, that Joe Weakley, an assistant basketball coach and community basketball figure for more than three decades, had died under mysterious circumstances after being confronted outside his home by four gunmen. Here's the Times' story:

LOS ANGELES--A 62-year-old South Los Angeles man who was an icon in the local basketball community was found unconscious in his home and subsequently died Thursday night after he had called 911 to report being confronted by four gunmen. Police officers and paramedics found an unresponsive Joe Weakley shortly after 11 p.m., when they took him to a local hospital where he was later pronounced dead. Weakley, who was well-known in the community for his devoted work as a basketball coach and as an organizer of various basketball youth leagues, made the 911 call from his West Century Boulevard home about 11 p.m.

The coroner's office will examine Weakley's body to determine the cause of death. For 18 years, Weakley worked as an assistant coach at Crenshaw High School under Coach Willie West and helped lead the team to 13 city section major division titles. Some of the Crenshaw basketball players he coached include Marques Johnson, future major league baseball player Darryl Strawberry and John Williams.

In 1991, he became a coach at Los Angeles Southwest College. Weakley was also the executive director of "Run, Shoot and Dunk," an adult league and SPEAK, a summer day camp for inner-city children.

Police ask anyone with information on Weakley's death to contact Det. Ray Morales or Det. Bruce Hosea of the LAPD South Bureau homicide detail at (213) 847-1310.

In addition to the details reported in the article, many people in the gym at Fairfax on Saturday, including at least one Crenshaw player, had a few more details, which were shared with members of the Crenshaw team on the following Friday at school. Among those details was the fact that Weakley was evidently on his way out of his house, apparently intending to visit his son who lived nearby. He reportedly saw the assailants committing some sort of vandalism or a burglary, and never one to shy away from stopping such things, he attempted to intervene, whereupon the assailants reportedly attacked Weakley. Also reportedly not one to back down from a fight, Weakley engaged in some sort of fist-fight with the assailants. Weakley eventually retreated back into his house, but apparently not before doing some damage of his own. He reportedly was on the phone calling his son when he began to experience cardiac problems, from which he died shortly after contacting 911. At least this is the version of the events which circulated the day following Weakley's death.

As noted in the Times article, it's important to contact the police at the numbers indicated in the article, if you think you have information which might lead to the arrest and conviction of the assailants.