Researching John Kline

Kline was a high-leaping 6-foot-3 star nicknamed Jumpin’ Johnny at Wayne University (now Wayne State University) in Detroit, because of his poor grades he dropped out of Wayne State to join the Globetrotters in 1953. During the six years with the Globetrotters, he had helped the team to win the "World Series of Basketball" against the College All-Americans, and in 1959 achieved their first undefeated season with 441 wins.

In 1959 he left the Globetrotters and for the season 1960-61 he played in Pennsylvania for the Sunbury Mercuries of the Eastern Professional Basketball League, a rung below the N.B.A. The 60's was a lost decade for Kline as he struggled with a drug addiction for almost eight years.

He resumed his education at the Wayne State, where he received bachelor's and master's degrees before earning a Ph.D. in education. In the early 1970s, he began a new career as director of a methadone program. In 1986 he was named the director of education and substance abuse for the City of Detroit's health department, the Times reports and soon after was appointed to Michigan's nursing board.

Kline founded the Black Legends of Professional Basketball Foundation with the aim to bring recognize and establish retirement plans for the game's early players, many of whom are not recognized by the NBA because they didn't play in the league. Kline was inducted into the African-American Hall of Fame, Wayne State's sports hall of fame and the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame.

Kline died on July 26, 2018 at his home in Lebanon, Tennessee, at the age of 86. He is survived by five daughters; Sharon Hill, Britt Thomas, Cheryl Thomas, Terry Dennis and Kelly Mack; four sons; Benjamin Daniels, John Kline III, Michael Kline and Alan Daniels; his brother, Ronald Colvard; 22 grandchildren; and 28 great-grandchildren.

One of three children born to Henry K. Kline (1862–1923) and Emma M. Kline (1869–1948), he was Professor of mathematics at the University of Pennsylvania from 1920–1955. A Ph.D. student of Robert Lee Moore, he was a Guggenheim Fellow in 1925, later Chairman of the Department of Mathematics from 1933–1954, and Thomas A. Scott Professor of Mathematics from 1941–1955.

His doctoral students include Lida Barrett, Arthur Milgram, Athanasios Papoulis, Dudley Weldon Woodard, Leo Zippin, and William Waldron Schieffelin Claytor.

Kline was born in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania on 17 June 1797, the son of John Kline (1763–1844) and Mary Hershey Kline (1770–1850). While he was still a boy, the family moved to Rockingham County, Virginia. On 18 March 1818, before he was twenty-one, he married Anna Wampler (1796–1885), the daughter of John Wampler and Magdalene Garber Wampler. He bought a farm on Linville Creek in what is now the town of Broadway, about five miles north of Harrisonburg, Virginia. He and his wife had only one child, a baby daughter, born on 15 March 1819, who did not live and was unnamed.

At some point Kline joined the German Baptist Brethren church. In 1827, he was chosen to serve as deacon by the Linville Creek congregation of the church. He was "called" to the preaching ministry in 1830 and like other Brethren ministers of his day, he served without remuneration throughout his life. At first the Brethren met in members' home or barns or even in open fields, and Kline gave both land and money to build the Linville Creek German Baptist Brethren Church.

He frequently traveled to southwest Virginia and to what is now West Virginia, preaching and baptizing and visiting Brethren families. Sometimes he was able to establish new congregations. The Brethren Encyclopedia says that "according to [Kline's] records, he may have covered as much as during his lifetime, mostly on horseback."

Kline also studied and practiced the medical procedures of one Dr. Samuel Thompson of Vermont so that he could treat the sick as well as minister to people spiritually.

At the 1861 Annual Meeting of the church, Kline was elected moderator, the highest elected office of the church, and he was re-elected in each of next three years.

He opposed both slavery and war and when war came between North and South, he lobbied the Virginia legislature and other officials to help make it possible for the Brethren to honor their pacifist beliefs and their objection to participating in the military. He and his good friend and in-law Benjamin F. Moomaw of Botetourt County argued that Brethren farmers could be of more assistance to the Confederate cause by supplying the troops with food than they could by fighting.

During the Civil War Kline crossed Union–Confederate lines to attend church meetings. He was able to obtain passes from both sides (though both were wary of him since he gave medical and spiritual help to both Union and Confederate troops). At one time, suspected of holding Union sympathies, he was imprisoned for two weeks in Virginia.

On 15 June 1864, while returning from a trip north, he was ambushed and killed near his home by young Confederate sympathizers.

His death was deeply mourned; he was widely regarded among his fellow Baptist Brethren as a wise counselor and a highly effective evangelist.

For "Entries of Genealogical Interest, Extracted From Life and Labors of Elder John Kline, the Martyr Missionary, Collated from his Diary by Benjamin Funk click here.