John Wesley Mathis

Jonesville, North Carolina

John Wesley Mathis, 91, teacher, coach, principal, and athletic director passed away May 28, 2018.  His wife, the former Jean Payne, a Jonesville teacher, preceded him in death on August 30, 1986.

Surviving are two daughters and a son in law, Janie and Tom Westra of State Road and Joy Mathis of Jonesville; a grandson, Cord Gentry of Oakland California; and a brother, Charles Mathis of Jonesville. Also preceding him in death: a grandson, Luke Gentry; his parents, Charlie G. and Maud Elliott Mathis; a sister, Sarah Mathis Finger; and a brother, James Elliott Mathis Sr.

A visitation will be held at Elkin Funeral Service on May 31, 2018 from 6 to 8 PM. A funeral service will be held Friday, June 1, 2018 at 11:00 AM at Jonesville First United Methodist Church where he was an active member all his life and in later years played the violin with June Boles Green and served at length as chairman of the council. Reverend Judy Davis and Reverend Joe Fulk will officiate. Burial will follow in the Hollywood Cemetery in Elkin.

A native of Jonesville, he was delivered at home by Dr. H.C Salmon on July 22, 1926. In his teens he became fascinated with tennis and his father had a site graded level behind their house for a tennis court, complete with a high fence. In those days, places to play tennis locally were few. So at Jonesville High, which had neither tennis nor football, he concentrated on basketball and became captain of the boys’ varsity team. During his senior year in 1944 he was invited to join the Elkin High football team. He would run from Jonesville High to Elkin High each afternoon to practice. He remained on the Elkin team for a second season by taking a post graduate course while waiting to be drafted during World War II. He once made a 90 yard touchdown for Elkin but it was never in his memory due to a concussion that resulted in hospitalization. He served in the U. S. Army as a military policeman and received a direct promotion to Staff Sergeant when he confronted a general at a place in Vienna, Austria while he was patrolling. He and his Boonville friend, Harvey Smith, were drafted at the same time and went overseas and back together on the same ship. They also toured Europe together before returning home. Before entering college, he worked for a while at Chatham Manufacturing and played on the company’s basketball team. He received both a B.S. and a M.A. degree from Appalachian State, where he played football. He began his teaching career at the Yadkinville High School in 1951–52, but a year later became basketball coach and teacher of history and physical education at Jonesville High.  He enjoyed winning basketball teams, both boys and girls, and assisted in coaching football. In 1954, he became principal, presenting diplomas to the graduating class of 1954, including his brother, Charles.

He was offered the principal’s position on a permanent basis, but declined preferring to continue teaching, coaching, and encouraging all of his students to finish school and follow their dreams. He taught and coached at Jonesville High School for 15 years until chosen to coach basketball and tennis, teach history and PE and health and serve as the athletic director at the new Starmount High in 1967. In his Off The Rim book on basketball, Dr. Fred Hobson, a UNC professor who grew up in Yadkinville, said the name of Jonesville meant “basketball royalty” when John Mathis was coach. He was, Hobson wrote, “the Dean Smith of hoops in our area.” In 1962, his fellow coaches in Western North Carolina selected him to coach the West in the East/West All-Star game at Greensboro. The West won. In 1983, he gave up the 12 to 14 hour days required to be a winning coach but continued to teach and serve as athletic director at Starmount until he retired in 1988. A room was dedicated to him at Starmount High School. It is full of pictures, trophies, articles and other memorabilia that represents his career. Starmount also included him in its first Hall of Fame class. In retirement, he remained a Starmount fan, riding to games with longtime friend Danny Macemore, one of his former basketball and tennis players who succeeded him as coach. After retirement he and his tennis friends participated in many tournaments at Myrtle Beach and at Neil Finger‘s court at Lake Norman. Also, any day of the week you might spot him and his friends on a tennis court in the Jonesville/Elkin area. In 2002, he and his brother, Charles gave their father’s boyhood home, high on a hill overlooking Elkin and the Mineral Springs Shoals, to the Yadkin County Historical Society. A decision instrumental in the creation of the Jonesville Historical Group that in 2003 sponsored the first Old Jonesville Day. It was during that event that a collection of the Coach’s Jonesville High sports memorabilia was first exhibited. The exhibit is now housed in the Jonesville History Center which is open almost every Saturday and Sunday afternoon. He and his brother also gave their father’s former store on W. Main St. to the Jonesville Historical Society for use as a history center. They also gave the society the site of their mother‘s childhood home on River Road, now historic Mineral Springs Park and the location of a veterans monument created with railings salvaged from the former Hugh Chatham Memorial Bridge. Above all else, he treasured most being a true Christian daddy to Joy and Janie, a Gandy to Cord, a brother, a son and a friend to many. Anyone that knew Coach Mathis also knew his favorite saying, “let’s go round”. I am sure he is going round in heaven today.

The family would like to thank all of his caregivers and friends for all the love and prayers. Flowers will be accepted or memorials may be made to Mountain Valley hospice or Jonesville First United Methodist Church.