Birth Date: 04/15/1968
Deceased Date: 10/24/2017
Four Oaks – John Wilson Jacobs, the 49-year-old who was Cleveland High School’s head varsity and JV boys basketball coach, JV basketball and baseball coach, and an assistant football coach, died Tuesday, October 24, 2017 at his home. Born April 15, 1968 in Wilson County he was a son of the late Sarah Helms Jacobs and Mike Jacobs, Sr. and wife LouAnn of Knoxville, TN. He was preceded in death by his maternal grandparents, John and Sarah Helms; and paternal grandmother, Bobbie Jacobs. John was diagnosed last year with melanoma on the bottom of his foot. The skin cancer had gone undetected for more than a year and had spread to other parts of his body. Yet he still taught class when school started and still coached JV football on Thursdays and varsity on Fridays for the first five weeks of this season. He grew up in the Cleveland community and was an excellent four-sport athlete at Smithfield-Selma. He was named to the all-state and Shrine Bowl of the Carolinas football teams and chose UNC over Georgia and Duke. He also excelled in the classroom, and was a Morehead Scholarship nominee at UNC. At UNC, he blocked a punt against N.C. State in 1987 that was returned for a touchdown to win the game. John was a businessman out of college, owning a convenience store for 8 years in Chapel Hill, but his love for kids spurred him into becoming a teacher. Jacobs taught for 16 years, nine at Princeton and seven at Cleveland. His 2014-15 boys basketball team at Cleveland went 23-4.
A Celebration of Life service will be conducted at 2:00 p.m. Sunday, October 29, 2017 in the Cleveland High School Gymnasium, 1892 Polenta Road, Clayton, NC 27520. The family will receive friends from 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. Wednesday evening, October 25, 2017 at Parrish Funeral Home in Selma.
In addition to his father and stepmother he is survived by his wife Amy of 27 years and sons Ben, Austin and Zach. Coach Jacobs coached all three of his sons – Ben when he was a senior at Princeton and Austin and Zach at Cleveland. Ben played basketball at UNC-Pembroke, Austin football at Western Carolina and Zach is currently playing football at Fayetteville State. Brothers, Michael Jacobs, Jr. and wife Nikki of Willow Springs and Ryan Jacobs of Knoxville, TN; sister, Kimberly Bone and husband Mike of Knoxville, TN; and nephews, Michael, Jackson, Julian, Myles, Christian, Alex, Andrew, and Nathaniel.
Online condolences may be sent to the family at parrishfh.com.
