Benjamin Benji Wilson Jr. was a 17-year-old standout basketball player at Neal F. Simeon Vocational High School in Chicago. On November 20, 1984, during the school lunch hour, he was shot in the neighborhood around his school after accidentally bumping into Billy Moore, a student from Calumet High School. Moore, who was carrying a .22 caliber pistol, felt disrespected and shot Wilson; Wilson died of his injuries the next morning on November 21, 1984.

The shooting galvanized the community and national attention, given Wilson’s status as the nation’s top high school player and his aspirations for the NBA. In the cases that followed, Billy Moore and an accomplice, Omar Dixon, were arrested and charged; Moore was convicted of murder and given a 40-year sentence, and Dixon received a 30-year sentence. Wilson’s death has been remembered in basketball circles, including a 1997 Nike advertisement and several players wearing jersey number 25 in his honor.

Did anyone who knew Benji, his teammates, or classmates ever share memories of him that might add to the picture of who he was?