James Roosevelt Jones (born March 21, 1961) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player who was a fullback in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL) for 10 seasons during the 1980s and early 1990s. Jones played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

Florida Gators The Florida Gators are the College sports in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Florida, located in Gainesville, Florida, Gainesville. The University of Florida, its athletic program, its alumni an ...

and then played professionally for the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. The team plays their home game ...

and the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The club entered the NFL a ...

of the NFL.

Early life

Jones was born in

Pompano Beach, Florida Pompano Beach ( ) is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. It is located along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, just north of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Fort Lauderdale and 36 miles north of Miami. The nearby Hillsboro Inlet forms part ...

.Pro-Football-Reference.com, Players
James R. Jones
Retrieved July 6, 2010. He attended

Blanche Ely High School Blanche Ely High School is a high school located in Pompano Beach, Broward County, Florida. The school is named for Blanche Ely, former principal and social activist. In addition to Pompano Beach, Ely serves a portion of Deerfield Beach and a ...

in Pompano Beach,databaseFootball.com, Players, . Retrieved June 4, 2010. and he was a star high school football player for the Blanche Ely Mighty Tigers. Jones was so versatile in his ability to play multiple positions that he was nicknamed the "Franchise." FHSAA unveils '100 Greatest Players of First 100 Years' as part of centennial football celebration
," Florida High School Athletic Association (December 4, 2007). Retrieved May 26, 2011. ''

Parade A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually some variety ...

'' magazine named him as a high school

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

after his senior season. In 2007, twenty-eight years after he graduated from high school, the

Florida High School Athletic Association The Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) is a not-for-profit organization designated by the Florida Legislature as the governing organization to regulate all interscholastic activities of high schools in Florida. It is a member of ...

(FHSAA) recognized Jones as one of the "100 Greatest Players of the First 100 Years" of Florida high school football.

College career

Jones received an athletic scholarship to attend the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

in Gainesville, Florida, where he played for coach

Charley Pell Charles Byron Pell (February 17, 1941 – May 29, 2001) was an American college football player and coach. Pell was an Alabama native and an alumnus of the University of Alabama, where he played college football. He is most notably remembered a ...

Florida Gators football The Florida Gators football program represents the University of Florida (UF) in American football, American college football. Florida competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the ...

team from

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

.
2011 Florida Gators Football Media Guide
'', University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida, pp. 87, 96, 103, 124, 138–140, 147–148, 182 (2011). Retrieved August 29, 2011. During Jones' sophomore season in

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...

, he was a member of the Gators team that posted the biggest one-year turnaround in the history of

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

Division I football—from 0–10–1 in 1979 to an 8–4 bowl team in 1980. He was a team captain in

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...

and 1982, a first-team

All-Southeastern Conference The All-SEC football team is an annual Southeastern Conference (SEC) honor bestowed on the best players in the conference following every college football season. Seasons

Following is a list of all-conference teams in the history of the SEC: ...

(SEC) selection in 1981 and 1982, and a third-team/honorable mention

in 1982. He also received the Gators'

Fergie Ferguson Award The Forest K. Ferguson Award, commonly known as the "Fergie Ferguson Award," is presented annually to a senior member of the Florida Gators football team in memory of one of the University of Florida's greatest athletes. Namesake The award ta ...

, recognizing the "senior football player who displays outstanding leadership, character and courage," in 1981. Jones finished his Gator career with 2,026 yards rushing, 593 yards receiving and forty-eight yards passing, and led the team in rushing yardage for three consecutive seasons from 1980 to 1982. He was later inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great" in 1998. In a 2006 article series published by ''The Gainesville Sun'', the ''Sun'' sportswriters ranked him as the No. 45 all-time greatest Gator from the first century of the Florida Gators football team.

Professional career

The

selected Jones in the first round (thirteenth pick overall) of the

1983 NFL draft The 1983 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 26–27, 1983, at the New York Sh ...

,Pro Football Hall of Fame, Draft History
1983 National Football League Draft
Retrieved June 4, 2010. and he played for the Lions from to .National Football League, Historical Players
James Jones
July 6, 2010. Jones started off for the Lions blocking for

Billy Sims Billy Ray Sims (born September 18, 1955) is an American former professional football player who was a running back for five seasons with the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL) from 1980 to 1984. Sims played college football fo ...

but became the featured back for the Lions in when Sims was injured. Jones played with Garry James from to and the tandem became known as the "James Gang." Jones' best game with the Lions was in week 1 of in a 13–10 win over the Vikings; he rushed for 174 yards on thirty-six carries and was recognized as the NFC offensive player of the week for his performance. Jones was traded to the Seattle Seahawks in for defensive back

Terry Taylor Paul Worden Taylor III (born August 12, 1955) is an American retired professional wrestler better known by his ring name Terry Taylor and for his time as an in-ring performer in National Wrestling Alliance, World Championship Wrestling, and Wo ...

, and he finished his NFL career with the Seahawks in . Jones finished his ten-season NFL career having played in 135 games, started ninety-one of them, rushed for 3,626 yards and twenty-six touchdowns on 1,010 carries, and caught 318 passes for 2,641 yards and ten touchdowns.

NFL career statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

Life after the NFL

Jones became the head football coach for his high school

alma mater Alma mater (; : almae matres) is an allegorical Latin phrase meaning "nourishing mother". It personifies a school that a person has attended or graduated from. The term is related to ''alumnus'', literally meaning 'nursling', which describes a sc ...

Blanche Ely, in 2007, but he resigned in May 2008 after a single season.

References

Bibliography

* Carlson, Norm, ''University of Florida Football Vault: The History of the Florida Gators'', Whitman Publishing, LLC, Atlanta, Georgia (2007). . * Golenbock, Peter, ''Go Gators! An Oral History of Florida's Pursuit of Gridiron Glory'', Legends Publishing, LLC, St. Petersburg, Florida (2002). . * Hairston, Jack, ''Tales from the Gator Swamp: A Collection of the Greatest Gator Stories Ever Told'', Sports Publishing, LLC, Champaign, Illinois (2002). . * McCarthy, Kevin M.,
Fightin' Gators: A History of University of Florida Football
', Arcadia Publishing, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina (2000). . * Nash, Noel, ed., ''The Gainesville Sun Presents The Greatest Moments in Florida Gators Football'', Sports Publishing, Inc., Champaign, Illinois (1998). . {{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, James 1961 births Living people Players of American football from Pompano Beach, Florida American football running backs Blanche Ely High School alumni Florida Gators football players Detroit Lions players Seattle Seahawks players High school football coaches in Florida