Former Alabama Assistant Basketball Coach John Bostick Dies

C.M. Newton called John Bostick "the best teacher of basketball I've ever known."

John Bostick, who served as an assistant basketball coach for C.M. Newton and Wimp Sanderson at the University of Alabama during his 32-year coaching career, died on Saturday.

Bostick served as an assistant at Alabama for 13 seasons and played a key role in the Crimson Tide posting five straight seasons with 22 or more wins and winning three Southeastern Conference championships.

He was known for being a defensive coaching specialist, and called by Newton "the best teacher of basketball I've ever known."

Bostick followed Newton to both Vanderbilt and then Kentucky in 1989 to serve as the Assistant Director of Athletics/Compliance.

Courtesy of Jimmy Bank

As an athlete, Bostick was a three-sport standout at North Alabama from 1952-56. He earned 11 varsity letters at Florence State, with four each in basketball and baseball and three in football. He scored 343 points for a 14.3 average in 1956 and he scored 32 points in a game against Jacksonville State in 1955 for the Lions in basketball. In three seasons as quarterback for the Lions football squad, he helped take the team to a 21-6-1 record.

A native of Winfield, Ala., Bostick earned his bachelor's degree in 1957 and then served as an officer in the U.S. Army and was head football coach of the Seventh Corps Jayhawks in Germany.

Upon his return he entered the high school coaching ranks and compiled a 178-102 record in 10 years of prep coaching, with three years at Sheffield High School and seven years at Gadsden High School. His Gadsden teams earned several trips to the state tournament and finished as the runner-up once.

In all, he spent 32 years as a coach on either the high school or collegiate level.

He and his wife Betty retired in Tuscaloosa.  

Bostick died from complications due to COVID-19. 

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.