Its been 21 years between sectional titles at Jimtown: Meet the connecting link

ELKHART — Tyler Leighton was a definite difference maker as a hard-working, reliable star guard on the hardwood for the last Jimtown High School boys' basketball team to win a sectional championship.

He's now a difference maker on the sidelines as the head coach of the Jimmies.

Leighton, a 2005 JHS graduate, has guided his team back to state tournament success in just his second season at his alma mater. The Jimmies, who are 15-10 and won their own Class 2A sectional crown last weekend, are set to face No. 12 Westview (18-7) Saturday in the Class 2A Triton Regional at 4 p.m. The winner of that game will be one of just eight teams left in Class 2A statewide and will head to semi-state action on March 22.

Leighton, who was the junior varsity coach and a varsity assistant coach at Penn High School before being hired as the Jimtown coach in 2023, is looking forward not back as he eyes a regional title.

Tyler Leighton poses with the sectional championship trophy with daughter Jordyn, left, and son Titan.

"I'm just proud and happy for our kids," said Leighton when asked what the sectional title meant to him personally. "This group is so special to me. I just love being around them every day. It's going to be hard for me when this season ends."

Leighton was the top scorer as a junior in 2004 when the Jimmies won their last sectional title. That team went on to cap a 25-2 season with a 63-59 win over top-ranked Brownstown Central to claim the Class 2A state championship. The Jimmies, who won their final 21 games that season, were the first boys' basketball team from Elkhart County to win a state title.

The 38-year old Leighton admitted that it is very meaningful to him to come back to Jimtown and help restore the program to prosperity. He is 28-21 in two seasons after the Jimmies had three straight losing seasons prior to his arrival, including going 5-18 two years ago. The program had also had five head coaches in 12 years since longtime and highly successful former coach Randy DeShone left there in 2011 after posting a 241-201 mark in 20 seasons.

"It is special as an alum," Leighton said of guiding his team to just the fourth sectional crown in program history. "It's very rewarding to see all of the hard work and hours that everyone has put into this pay off.

"This is why I took this job. I know how special a place Jimtown is. I saw an opportunity to come back here and do something. This is more than a job to me. It's personal."

Leighton was the top scorer as a 5-11 junior backcourt standout when the Jimmies won it all. He had 19 points in the state title game for a squad that also included star senior big man Kyle Johnson and junior Derrick DeShone, now the boys basketball coach at Concord High School.

"Tyler, first off, was one of the top three hardest working players I ever coached," said his high school coach Randy DeShone. "He had a heck of a career as a player, all based off his work ethic. He was just going to outwork everyone else.

"He was just very competitive and driven to be successful. He just loved the game and was multi skilled in every aspect of it as a player. He was a complete player and such a smart player. He was like 5-10 and in our state title game in 2004 our center Kyle Johnson got into foul trouble and Tyler guarded a 6-5 guy.

"He was such a self-made player. He was the kind of kid that you wished that every player you coached had some of Tyler in them."

"We gave him a key to turn the lights on in the gym at Jimtown when he played for me. He'd come in to shoot every morning before school."

Jimtown's Tyler Leighton attempts to chase down a loose ball as Clint Parker of Brownstown Central, back, pursues in the 2004 Class 2A state championship game.

Leighton scored 1,082 career points for the Jimmies, where he helped them go 55-15 overall over his final three seasons, including a 14-0 mark in his last two campaigns in the Northern State Conference. He then played at Grand Rapids Community College and Grace College before finishing his collegiate career at IUSB, where he scored 1,186 points in two seasons and became the first All-American in program history in 2009, when he was also named the Chicagoleand Collegiate Athletic Conference Player of the Year. Leighton was a freshman on the 2001-02 Jimtown team that lost in the semi-state, meaning he's been a part of three of the four sectional championships in program history as either a player or a coach. Jimtown also won a sectional title in 1945.

Leighton credits his parents, Bill Leighton and Brenda Banks, for his work ethic. Bill is now the scorekeeper for the Jimmies.

"My dad worked construction, and my mom worked two jobs," explained Leighton, who has a daughter Jordyn and a son Titan. "It was ingrained in me that you can have anything you want if you work for it. I've tried to apply that to my life and it's at the core of my coaching philosophy."

Leighton, who began his coaching career as a graduate assistant under Bryce Drew at Valparaiso University, was emotional when recalling where his love for the game originated.

"I remember going to men's league when I was in like the fourth or fifth grade with my Dad," said Leighton, who also played professionally overseas. "Everyone there just treated me so great, and I just wanted to get out there and play. I just loved those nights. The rides home with my dad were special. We would talk about basketball, and we would stop and get a snack or a drink. Those positive vibes are where it started.

"My Dad loves basketball and I would watch old VHS tapes of Larry Bird and Michael Jordan and Steve Alford that we had and then go out in our driveway or to the gym and do their workouts. I just loved being in the gym as a kid alone. It was a beautiful thing."

Leighton was a true student of the game even while in high school.

"I always read Twine Line in the Elkhart Truth by Anthony Anderson," recounted Leighton, referring to a high school boys basketball column. "I would cut out the previews and schedules for every team in our area before the season. Then I would try and go anywhere I could to see the best high school players and teams around here from all the big schools. Then I would go back in the gym at 6 a.m. the next day before school and work on the moves that I picked up from those games."

DeShone, who also coached at Elkhart Central and Fairfield, has been to four or five Jimtown games this season and still stays in contact with his former prize pupil.

"I figured Tyler would do something with basketball because of his love of the game," said DeShone about him becoming a coach. "I'm so happy for him to win a sectional as a coach. He deserved this. I told him to enjoy it because you never know when, or if, you will win another one. We had some great teams at Jimtown that never won sectionals.

"Why I'm proud of him is because Tyler loves Jimtown. And I know that him and the kids on this team love the game and have put in the time. They've earned what they have gotten. Tyler is a good coach. I've sat and talked the game with him. He's good. He's smart."

Leighton, who is a physical education teacher at Jimtown, credits a pair of his mentors.

"I've been very lucky," said Leighton. "I got to play for a great high school coach in Randy DeShone and then I worked for Al (former Penn coach and Hall of Famer Al Rhodes). I found the keys to success from coaches like those two and took a lot of the lessons with me into coaching."

Leighton, for his part, is not living in the past as he puts every ounce of energy into trying to help his team claim the program's third regional title and first since that magical season back in 2004 on Saturday at Triton High School.

"All of my focus now is how can I best prepare my players to beat Westview, an outstanding team, on Saturday," emphasized Leighton Monday night. "How can I help my guys get better this week. It is a special thing and a huge accomplishment to win a sectional. But I would be doing a disservice to my guys now if I live in memory lane.

"But I'm in heaven right now. I'm coaching high school basketball in Indiana in mid-March."

And still making a difference for the school he loves.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Tyler Leighton connects Jimtown's last two sectional hoops crowns

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Its been 21 years between sectional titles at Jimtown: Meet the connecting link

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