CORDOVA, TN (abc24.com) - He was a beloved teacher, coach, and pastor, and as family grieved, his school family remembered Jimmy McClain with a moment of silence before a Friday night basketball game.
"It is hard right now, but he was everyone's favorite, everybody loved him, everyone," said Danielle Collins, McClain's niece.
McClain's body was found in his Cordova home on Friday morning by Shelby County Sheriff's Office deputies conducting a welfare check. By afternoon, investigators had ruled McClain's death a homicide, and shut down a portion of the 7600 block of Cordova Club Road in front of his house.
"He just enjoyed life," Collins said. "He loved his mom's cooking, and he would always tease everyone about who cooked what."
Collins taught personal finance and accounting at Ridgeway High School, where he was also an assistant coach on the boy's basketball team. He was remembered with a moment of silence before the girl's game on Friday night.
"Everybody's kind of heart-broken because he was a good person, and he was a great coach, he taught us a lot," said DeSean Dockery, who played on the boy's team under McClain.
Dockery said the whole team was together for a team dinner a few nights ago.
"We had all went out to a team dinner, everybody was just laughing and joking then this came up, and very shocking," he said.
Dockery said the team was told about McClain's death during practice.
"He was just a good guy all-around," Dockery said.
"The cause of death has yet to be determined and this remains an active investigation," Chip Washington, with the Sheriff's Office said late Friday night.
This is the first murder of the year in Shelby County.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Shelby County Sheriff's Detective Unit at (901) 222-5600 or Crime Stoppers at (901) 528-CASH (2274).
