Legendary coach and women’s basketball trailblazer Jessie Banks passed away on February 20, 2026, at the age of 90. Banks, who was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame as a member the All-American Red Heads, was a longtime coach at Southern Colorado State College and a valued contributor to the “If Not For Them” docuseries.
Born in 1935, Banks was a two-year letter winner in basketball at Lindsay High School in Oklahoma. From there, she went straight into playing professional basketball, suiting up for the All-American Red Heads between 1954 and 1959. The All-American Red Heads formed in 1936 and travelled the country playing upwards of 200 games a season, always by men’s rules.
She then elected to attend Central Oklahoma, where she played basketball, as well as field hockey, volleyball, softball, badminton and golf. While still attending Central Oklahoma, she jumped right into coaching too, leading McGuinness High School for two years before earning an undergraduate degree. Then, she moved to Colorado and earned a master’s degree from Adams State in 1966.
She joined the staff at Southern Colorado State College (now CSU Pueblo) later that year and became the school’s first coach in women’s basketball and volleyball. She also coached softball and track and field, and served as an Assistant Athletic Director for the Thunderwolves.
Banks was also a force on the national level, helping to develop the Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (CIAW) and the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW). Banks even hosted the first-ever AIAW small-college national basketball tournament in March of 1975.
At SCSC, her basketball teams won back-to-back RMAC East Division titles in 1979 and 1980. The school’s female athlete of the year award is named for Banks, who coached at the school through 1985 and retired as a physical education professor in 1996.
Banks is a member of the CSU Pueblo Hall of Fame and has been enshrined in several other halls, including ones at Lindsay (Okla.) High School, the University of Central Oklahoma, Colorado Coaches of Girls’ Sports, the RMAC and the Greater Pueblo Sports Hall of Fame.
—————-
A statement from If Not For Them Executive Producer Brenda VanLengen:
“Jessie contributed so much to the game in her time as an All-American Red Head and her years as coach and administrator at CSU-Pueblo. When I interviewed Jessie, she was so delightful and shared amazing stories and great wisdom that will be featured in the “If Not For Them” docuseries. Jessie was an incredible person and I’m so glad to have had the opportunity to meet her!”
—————-
Please enjoy this video of Banks from the RMAC’s 2015 Hall of Fame induction ceremony:
