Friends of Basketball

Jeff Spear

Year Inducted: 2000

Category: Friends of Basketball

Schools / Organizations: Quincy High School
IBCA
Quincy University

Biography: The 1972-73 Quincy Blue Devils compiled a 26-2 record but fortunately they didn’t keep track in practice. That’s where junior Jeff Spear had a role. His job was to work the starters over in practice so the games would seem easier. And it worked.  When his playing days ended after that junior year, Spear organized the “Athletic Supporters,” a student booster group who motivated the home crowd to new levels of enthusiasm. Spear organized a student-faculty basketball game to subsidize bus trips to out-of-town games for the group, and along with Jim Knaff, made sure the kids got on the bus.  After graduating from Kenyon College with honors in 1978, Spear continued his education with a degree from Worsham College of Mortuary Science in 1979. That same year he joined the Quincy Thanksgiving Holiday Tournament Committee and has been a fixture ever since. Spear assumed the role of chairman of the ticket assignment committee in 1982 and was tournament chairman in 1989 and 1990. In 1989 he began assisting the Quincy High School athletic director in choosing teams for the tournament. He was responsible for helping bring three teams that ranked in the top 10 in the national preseason polls.  Jeff has helped raise funds for those Quincy athletes, coaches and friends of sports who have been selected to the IBCA Hall of Fame and IBCA All-Star games since 1987. He is also a member of the Quincy High School Sports Hall of Fame. Jeff and his wife Theresa reside in Quincy and are active with Quincy University and its programs as well.  Jeff Spear died on December 8, 2023 at the age of 67.