‘Long Bill’ Jankans remembered as one of the Red Knights’ all-time greats
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The Mount Rushmore of Reading High basketball players would include Lonnie Walker IV, Donyell Marshall, Stu Jackson . . . and an older name some may have forgotten: Bill Jankans.
“Long Bill” was a dominant center for Pete Carril during the mid-1960’s, leading the Red Knights to their first unbeaten regular season.
“We had six guys out there, not five,” said Paul Troika, a member of that fabled 1965-66 team. “Bill would guard his man and your man.”
Jankans, who went on to play at NCAA powerhouse Long Beach State and then briefly in the American Basketball Association, died at age 74 earlier this week according to a post on the Reading High Basketball Squires Club page.
He was living in Ontario, Ca., in recent years.
Jankans, who played at Reading from 1963-66, set program records by scoring 1,423 career points and averaging 23.7 points per game as a junior. Only Marshall, in 1990-91, averaged more points (24.8) per game.
Jankans averaged 16.4 points per game as a sophomore, a program record that stood for 45 years.
He was a first-team All-State selection as a senior after leading the Red Knights to a 25-1 record and the Central Penn and District 3 titles. He averaged more than 20 points and 15 rebounds over his 71-game career.
“He was really fast,” recalled former Reading coach Jim Gano, Jankans’ JV coach. “For a big guy, he was fast. He could be the first guy down the court. He went out one year for track and he just blew by everybody, but he didn’t stick with it. He didn’t like track.”
He liked basketball and played the game as well as anyone who ever suited up for the Red Knights.
“He was an intimidator (on the court),” recalled Troika. “The guards were able to get out on their man and not worry about him getting past. We worked that out with Bill. He said: ‘Don’t you worry about a thing, I’ll get it.”
Jankans was such a standout he was recruited by UCLA, in the midst, at the time, of the greatest basketball dynasty in college history. He eventually ended up at Long Beach State, also an NCAA power at the time.
Jankans, who went by “Billy” during his college years, was a starter on a 49ers team that was coached by Jerry Tarkanian and making its first tournament appearance.
Long Beach State reached the NCAA Final four in 1970. It went 24-5, won the Big West Conference and wasn’t stopped until running into John Wooden’s UCLA squad in the national semifinals.
Jankans averaged 12.8 points and 6.9 rebounds and earned All-Conference Big West honors and third-team All-American honors as a senior.
Jankans, listed at 6-8, was selected in the fifth round of the NBA draft by the Detroit Pistons. He ended up spending training camp with the ABA’s Pittsburgh Condors and made a big impression with coach Jack McMahon.
“He looks like he has all the tools,” McMahon said during camp. “He’s good on the break, he goes to the basket well, and he has great release on his jump shot.”
Jankans went on to play in Mexico, Europe, South America, and the Philippines.
He was inducted into the Berks Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009.
His senior team, Carril’s last in Reading, went 25-1 before running into Chester in the state semifinals. The Red Knights were 46-3 over his final two seasons.
“He was a good team player and played with a good team that was very unselfish,” Gano said, “and he played that way himself.”