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Cone loved basketball, teaching and preaching

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Contributed by: Rich Romine on 10/11/2007

From the sidelines:
The e-mail news arrived early Oct. 2 concerning the stunning death of Chris Cone, the popular teacher and coach at Fillmore High.

Cone, 51, had died from a heart attack a day earlier.

Cone's life was celebrated on Oct. 6, at the Fillmore Community Church, where he served as a pastor before turning his direction to teaching and coaching.

Harry Burns, a former varsity boys' basketball coach at Fillmore, said in November of 1995, he hired Cone to serve as freshman boys' coach and then later would be promoted to junior varsity coach. Cone was a 10-year varsity coach.

When Cone and wife Rachel came to Fillmore, they were guiding a 22-member church, which didn't have its own building, but does now thanks to pastor Chris.

Cone also became a volunteer firefighter in Fillmore.

In 1973, Cone became a born again Christian.

Cone's three children, Colin, Casey and Stephanie, shared remarks and testimonials.

So did a number of friends near the end of the service.

The basketball players presented Mrs. Cone with an autographed ball.

Former players came forward for a quick huddle and a touching tribute to their coach.

Chris is playing basketball on God's team.

Pastor Mark Rathe mentioned, "did I say Chris loved basketball."

There's several other coaches Chris is seeing.

St. Bonaventure's Marsha Dedrick was born into eternal life on Sept. 9 in Ventura.

Longtime Channel Islands coach Rick Knoles went home to be with the Lord on Sept. 19.

Cone, Dedrick and Knoles are all waiting for coach John Wooden to join God's team.

Now the shocking truth from Marion Jones, admitting she used steroids.

In 1989, as Sports Editor of the Oxnard Press-Courier, I met a young athlete named Marion Jones, she was a basketball star and a whiz in track.

She shattered all the records at Rio Mesa before transferring to Thousand Oaks as a junior.

It was a Thursday night football game when the sports staff discovered she was leaving Rio Mesa.

One year covering Jones at the strate track meet at Cerritos College, I ran into my old junior high coach, Len Thornton, from Sierra in Fresno. He was coaching track at McLane, my alma mater.

My last conversation with Marion was a press conference for the Sunkist Invitational in Sherman Oaks in January of 1993, she was excited about taking the big leap from high school to the University of North Carolina.

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