the Baller’s Almanac: August 19, 2012

One year ago today, Julian Jones was murdered in Atlanta. The 23-year-old mother was outside her home talking to her neighbors when shots were fired from a passing vehicle. She was struck in the leg and later died during surgery.

Within days it was announced that former Georgia Tech basketball player Javaris Crittenton was wanted for questioning, but was on the run. Eleven days later he was arrested at the Los Angeles airport by the FBI and LAPD. It is believed that Crittenton saw someone who he believed had stolen jewelry from him, and opened fire. But Jones was the only person hit.

He is currently out on bond and awaiting trial. In February he was arrested again, this time on obstruction charges for refusing to get out of his Porsche after an officer stopped him for speeding.

The Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum (or The Joel) opened on this day in 1989. The Arena is owned by the City of Winston-Salem, NC and is home to Wake Forest basketball. It was named for Army medic Lawrence Joel, who is way more badass than you.

It's the 60th birthday of Oklahoma head coach Lon Kruger. He was born in Silver Lake, Kansas, and played baseball and basketball for Kansas State University. He helped the Wildcats to back-to-back Big 8 Championships, and twice was the conference player of the year.

He has been the head coach of seven different NCAA programs.

Other birthdays include: Bill Foster 1930 (Coach, 5 programs), Stew Johnson 1944 (Murray State), Ricky Pierce 1959 (Rice), Mel McCants 1967 (Purdue), Roy Rogers 1973 (Alabama), Jason Miskiri 1975 (George Mason), and Kendall Marshall 1991 (North Carolina).

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