The Galesburg community is mourning the sudden and heartbreaking loss of Jordan Ball, the 7th-grade boys’ basketball coach and beloved new teacher at Galesburg Junior-Senior High School.
Although no official obituary has been released yet, word has spread quietly among families, players, and staff that Jordan passed away following a tragic accident.
As of early December 2025, the family has asked for privacy while they grieve, but the outpouring of love and shock shows just how many lives this young man touched in such a short time.
Jordan grew up in Moscow Mills, Missouri, the son of Casey A. Ball of Windsor Heights, Iowa, and the late Stacey M. Hammack, who raised him alongside his sister, Nicole, and brother, Nicholas.
He was a standout athlete at Troy Buchanan High School and earned a full-ride baseball scholarship to Monmouth College, where he played for the Fighting Scots and graduated with a degree in history.
Anyone who watched him on the field could see the same fire he later brought to coaching: competitive, joyful, and continually lifting the people around him.
In November 2024, Jordan joined Galesburg Junior High as a long-term English substitute and immediately took over the 7th-grade boys basketball program.
Players and parents still talk about the energy he brought to every practice, the way he could turn a tough loss into a life lesson, and the genuine pride he showed when one of his kids finally nailed a free throw or stood up for a teammate. When he was hired, he said,
“I became an educator to share my knowledge and help the next generation of bright young minds.”
Via Facebook
In his 20s, he was already living that promise every single day.
At home in Oneida, Illinois, Jordan was a devoted husband to his wife, Alex, his college sweetheart from Monmouth.
The two married on July 25, 2022, and welcomed a baby who brought them endless happiness.
Alex teaches at ROWVA CUSD #208, where she’s been since August 2021, and together they were the kind of young couple everyone admired: grounded, hardworking, and completely in love with their little family.
Jordan knew deep loss long before this week. His mother, Stacey, fought stage-4 lung cancer with incredible courage for two and a half years before passing in 2018, surrounded by the family she cherished.
Those who knew Jordan say he carried his mom’s strength with him and tried to honor her by being the kind of man she raised, kind, steady, and always there for the people he loved.
He leaves behind his wife, Alex, and their child, his father, Casey, siblings Nicole and Nicholas, and countless former teammates, students, players, and friends who are struggling to make sense of a world without him.
Jordan Ball poured everything he had into his family, his faith, his classroom, and those 7th-grade boys who looked up to him.
The court won’t be the same without his whistle around his neck, and that easy smile on his face, but the lessons he taught, the love he gave, and the way he lived will stay with everyone lucky enough to have known him.
Rest easy, Coach.
