The Ben Wilson Legacy Inspires ‘Chirusalem’ Peace Project
Forty-one years after the death of Chicago basketball legend Ben “Benji” Wilson, a group of community leaders are turning the memory of his tragedy into a platform for transformation and hope for a new generation of Black youth. Their effort, called the Chirusalem Peace Project, reimagines Chicago’s long struggle with gun violence as a call to healing — a passage from “Chiraq” to “Chirusalem,” symbolizing a city founded on peace.
Wilson, a 17-year-old Simeon High School basketball prodigy, was fatally shot on November 20, 1984. His death stunned a city that had seen him as the next great star to emerge from Chicago’s playgrounds and gyms. For many, the loss marked the beginning of a darker chapter in the city’s youth culture — a period of escalating violence that would stretch across decades. But for others, including community organizer Dr. Revin Fellows and visionary Jeffrey Maxwell, the story of Ben Wilson still carries lessons powerful enough to rewrite Chicago’s narrative.
“Ben Wilson’s death wasn’t just about losing a basketball player,” said Fellows. “It was about losing hope — and now it’s time to reclaim that hope. We believe his death was the beginning of a forty-year war on the streets of Chicago, and now, those forty years have come to an end. This is the season of peace.”
Fellows, who played for Simeon from 1974 to 1978, remembers Wilson as a tall, graceful teenager who rose quickly in both stature and skill. He recalls his first growth spurt over his Sophomore Summer. “He went to bed one night 5’10” and woke up seven inches taller,” he said. “Everything came easy to him — smooth, effortless. He had that ‘it’ factor, and everybody knew it.”
Jeff Maxwell, a South Side native and executive director of the Chicago Peace Initiative, which is launching the Chirusalem Peace Project, recalls that even as a fifth grader, he and his friends idolized Wilson. “Every time we shot the ball, we wanted to be like Ben,” he said. “He was that player who made it look easy. He had a light around him.”
Simeon Career Academy was already earning a reputation as a basketball powerhouse, producing point guards and stars who would shape Chicago’s athletic identity for generations. But Wilson was something special — the consensus No. 1 high school player in the nation in 1984, with a future that seemed limitless. When he was shot and killed during an argument near the school, it sent shockwaves through Chicago’s Black community.
“I was devastated,” Maxwell said. “My sister was a freshman at Simeon when it happened. Everybody was talking about how great the team was going to be. And then, just like that, he was gone. It took the hope right out of a lot of young men’s hearts.”
For Fellows, Wilson’s death became a turning point — one that shaped his life’s mission. Fellows, who wore No. 25 and led Simeon to the Blue Division Championship, was also Ben’s mentor. Fellows was in his senior year at Aurora University and was on his way to play professional basketball in Europe at the time of Ben’s death. He left behind his own basketball ambitions to mentor his younger brother and other youth, dedicating himself to guiding them away from the same streets that had claimed Wilson. “God asked me to give up my pro career,” Fellows said. “He told me to go get my brother — to save him from Chicago before it killed him too. That became my calling.”
Both Fellows and Maxwell emphasize that while Wilson’s death was senseless, the events surrounding it hold deep lessons for today’s youth about choices, consequences, and emotional discipline. “So many things could have gone differently that day,” Fellows reflected. “If Ben had stayed in class. If he had walked away. If the young man with the gun had made another choice. If the girl had said, ‘Come on, let’s go.’ Those are life lessons that can save another young man or woman.”
The Chirusalem Peace Project aims to take those lessons — about conflict resolution, decision-making, and accountability — and use them to help young people break the cycle of violence that has plagued Chicago since the 1980s.
The organizers see a spiritual dimension to this movement. Maxwell, who describes himself as the “visionary” of the initiative, interprets the forty-year period since Wilson’s death as a “biblical cycle.” Drawing from scripture, he compares the city’s decades of bloodshed to the forty-year wilderness period faced by ancient Israel.
“When Ben’s blood hit the ground, it triggered a forty-year war in Chicago,” Maxwell said. “Every effort at reform, every anti-violence program — it all fell under that curse. But forty years later, that period of war is ending. The land is about to enter its rest. We’re proclaiming peace.”
The word Chirusalem combines “Chi,” for Chicago, and “Jerusalem,” symbolizing a divine transition from a city known for warfare to one rooted in healing. The goal is not only to rebrand Chicago’s image but to reshape its spiritual and emotional energy. “You can’t manifest peace until you first speak peace,” Maxwell said. “We’re changing the conversation — from Chiraq to Chirusalem.”
That transformation begins, they say, with small, symbolic gestures. On Friday, November 21, at 3:45 p.m., which is “Benji Wilson Day” as proclaimed by the City and Mayor Brandon Johnson last year, and the 41st anniversary of Wilson’s death, the organizers will launch a Call to Action in the vicinity of Simeon High School. The goal is to encourage residents to greet ten people as part of “World Hello Day,” a quiet global movement for peace that originated in 1973. “It might seem small, but saying ‘hello’ is a spiritual act,” Fellows said. “It opens hearts. It lowers guards. It’s how the healing starts.”
To Maxwell and Fellows, the Chirusalem Peace Project represents more than just another anti-violence campaign — it’s a spiritual succession. They believe Wilson’s spirit of excellence and leadership has resurfaced to guide a new generation of youth leaders, particularly young men who have been labeled as “lost causes.”
“The same streets that produced the tragedy are going to produce the triumph,” Maxwell said. “The same young people that the system called dangerous are going to be the ones who bring peace. They’ll move from perpetrators to protectors, from victims to vanguards.”
The initiative calls on fathers, mothers, clergy, and community leaders to participate in a public atonement ceremony — a symbolic reconciliation between generations. “We have to apologize to our sons,” Maxwell said. “The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge. Our generation left them pain and confusion. Now we have to restore their faith in themselves.”
The Chirusalem Peace Project also builds upon earlier faith-based movements like the late Pastor Clifford E. Turner’s 1984 “Take the City” revival, which sought to reclaim Chicago for God during the same year Wilson was killed. Fellows calls this new effort the continuation of that prophetic vision.
“Back then, God gave the word to take the city,” he said. “Now, forty years later, He’s telling us to heal the city.”
The organizers have already gained the support of several Chicago aldermen and are preparing to make the commemoration an annual city-recognized observance. But beyond proclamations and press conferences, they say the true power lies in the shift of mindset — replacing the culture of retaliation with one of reconciliation.
“Ben’s mother showed us that first,” Fellows said, recalling how she refused to seek vengeance against her son’s killers. “She said, ‘That’s not what we do.’ That’s the highest form of forgiveness. That’s where peace begins.”
For Wilson’s brother, Jeffrey Wilson, keeping Benji’s name alive has been both a mission and a responsibility. He said the late athlete’s greatest lesson was not found on the court, but in his character and discipline off it. “Benji wasn’t just about being the best basketball player,” Jeff said. “He believed in working twice as hard, in going the extra mile when others stopped. He believed in morals, in respect, in not being a dumb jock. He wanted young people to know they could be great by putting in the work and staying focused.”
Jeffrey Wilson recalled his brother’s height in his senior year as being 6’9″ plus. He also remembered his brother as a mentor who encouraged children in the neighborhood to study, groom themselves, and believe in their worth. “He used to tell little kids, ‘Comb your hair, wash your face, you’re somebody,’” he recalled. “That’s what I want his legacy to mean today—raising a generation that believes in excellence again.”
As Chicago prepares to mark Ben Wilson’s anniversary once again, Fellows and Maxwell hope that his legacy will finally move from grief to guidance — a reminder that even tragedy can become a teacher.
“Ben’s death broke our hearts,” Maxwell said quietly. “But it also broke the ground for something new to grow. This is that harvest.”
For more information about the launch and the reception immediately following at the “Time-Out Lounge,” located at 8216 S. Vincennes Avenue in Chicago, contact Dr. Revin Fellows, Simeon High School Alumni Class of ’78, by phone at (773) 969-9644 or Jeff Maxwell, Chicago Peace Project, at (773) 236-4595 or email him at [email protected].
The reception will be co-hosted by Dr. Revin Fellows and the “All Ball Chicago” podcast host Robert “Bobby” Reed.
This story originally appeared in the November 8, 2025, issue of the Chicago Crusader Newspaper.
This story was last updated on November 12, 2025.