"Bill" William Oliver Pitts 1939 - 2001
A J C H S 1958 Graduate
Vietnam Army Veteran
William Oliver Pitts died May 10, 2001.
Bill was born June 17, 1939, son of Lynn and Esther Oliver Pitts in Union County, Illinois. He servied 27 years in U.S. Army.
Survivors include his mother; brothers; Jack and Barbara Pitts of Anna; Richard and Charlene Pitts of Anna; sisters; Linda Pitts Coffee of Missippi, Doni Pitts of Califorina .
He attended Davie Grade School, Anna Junior High and Anna Jonesboro Community High School with the Class of 1958.
Letter to Editor 22 May 2001
Remembering A-J' Bill Pitts
Bill Pitts passed away last week.
Who was he?
Well Bill was Anna-Jonesboro Community High School's all time leading scorer in basketball with approximately 1,700 varsity points.
He did this before the 3-pointer was enacted. I doubt if anybody comes within 400 points of his record.
He may even have been the all time conference scoring champ since he stared many games his sophomore year and played
in all of them, was second in scoring his junior year and was leader his senior year.
Bill was also All-Conference end on our 1957 conference champion team.
In addition was an excellent baseball player.
Strangely enough, few A-J fans remember him. He was not flashy, but he could and did fill the basket.
He was also a good blocker and our best pass catcher.
Most fans remember, or at least have heard of his legendary brother, Bob Pitts.
Some can even remember his brother Jack who teamed with Bob and gave A-J some great basketball and football teams in the early 1950's.
His younger brother, Dick, also starred some years later for A-J.
But there are only a few of us who remember Bill and his exploits.
Come to think of it can anyone think of an A-J family that produced more great athletes than the Pitts?
There is another matter about Bill that will go unnoticed and unappreciated.
Bill was a career solder and served three tours in Vietnam.
I realize that other, e.g. Joe Baker readily come to mind, served three tours in Vietnam, so I am not claiming that Bill set another record.
I bring this up only because I for one am grateful for the sacrifices these solders made for us.
Bill Lewis
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