East St. Louis seventh-grade head coach Tillman is named Boys Basketball Coach of the Year

EAST ST. LOUIS - Great coaches are to be celebrated as much as great athletes. The City of Champions – East St. Louis – has another reason to be thankful this year.

Coach Tillman has been named the IESA (Illinois Elementary School Association) 2018 Coach of the Year for Boys Basketball. This coach successful led the Mason/Clark Middle School 7^th grade boys basketball team to be 2018 IESA Boys Basketball Regional Champions, Sectional Champions and an Elite 8 Finalist. These are outstanding accomplishments for any coach. But Coach Tillman has broken other barriers: she is the first female to ever coach a boys basketball team in Illinois history.

To celebrate, Mason/Clark Middle School and the City of East St. Louis honored her by declaring November 28, 2018, as Jamila Tillman Day. Coach Tillman was recognized and celebrated along with the former 7th-grade boys' Basketball Team and the Mason/Clark Middle School Coaching staff before the start of the home basketball game against Cahokia.

Coach Jamila Tillman is the Assistant Boys Basketball Coach at Mason/Clark Middle School and Ferris Williams is the Head Boys Coach. "We are so proud of Coach Tillman and these young men and what they have accomplished. I chose Coach Tillman to be on my coaching staff not because she is a female but because she is an amazing basketball coach," said Coach Williams.

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