Bill Rose, Jalen Rose’s Brother, Dies at 60

Jalen Rose brother Bill

Twitter/Jalen Rose

Bill Rose, Jalen Rose’s oldest brother, has died at the age of 60. Jalen confirmed his brother’s passing with a message on Twitter on February 18.

Jalen tweeted, “Deeply saddened by the loss of my eldest brother Bill!! Thanks for being my father figure & bodyguard!!! Your legacy will be held w/the highest esteem!!! #RIP Big Bro ??????.”


Rose Said His Brother, Bill, Inspired Him to Become a Better Student

Jalen Rose brother bill

Rose during his time with the Denver Nuggets in 1994.

Rose wrote of the influence his brother had on his life in a 2016 article for The Player’s Tribune. The article was titled, “The 48235,” the zip code where Rose and his family lived in Detroit, Michigan.

Rose wrote that he would regularly hang out after school on a neighbor’s porch, playing music and hanging out. Rose said:

Until one afternoon, when my older brother Bill came back from a long day’s work, and I could tell he was just not in the mood to see us — me in particular — being so celebratory.

He got out of his car, came over to the porch and basically snatched me up by my collar. In front of everyone. It wasn’t so much him dragging me from the porch than what he said to me next that really resonated:

“Don’t you have something to do? Why don’t you get in the house and read a book or something?”

Rose said that from that moment onward, he took his education more seriously and was proud to become an Honour Roll student in high school.

In the book, “The Fab Five: Basketball Trash Talk the American Dream,” it’s written that Bill once told his talented his brother during Jalen’s time at the University of Michigan, “You got to lose those guys. And stop dressing like some kind of rap gangster. What’s with that s***?”


Rose Shared a Room With Bill & Their Other brother, Kevin, Growing Up in Detroit

In his 2015 book, “Got to Give the People What They Want: True Stories and Flagrant Opinions,” Rose wrote that he shared a room with Bill, and his other brother, Kevin, in the family home on the west side of Detroit.

Jalen said in the book that both Bill and Kevin were ten years old than him. Inside of their room, Jalen slept on a mattress on the floor while the two older brothers shared a bunk bed. Their sister, Tam, had her own room down the hall. Jalen referred to Tam in the book as the “princess.”

Jalen has a different father to his siblings, NBA No.1 overall draft pick, Jimmy Walker. The family name Rose came from Bill, Kevin and Tam’s father.

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