SPRINGDALE HALL OF FAME: Jones’ Wait Worthwhile

MULTI-SPORT STANDOUT LED BULLDOGS TO 1944 FOOTBALL STATE TITLE

Editor’s Note: Northwest Arkansas Newspapers is profiling each of the 2010 Springdale School District Athletic Hall of Fame Inductees. The hall of fame banquet will be Aug. 14 in the Springdale High cafeteria.

Charles Jones didn’t mind one bit waiting until 2010 to be inducted into the Springdale School District Athletic Hall of Fame.

The way Jones looks at it, the Hall of Fame is busy enough sorting through all the great athletes in recent years before looking back on his glory days.

“It was just so long ago when I played that I hadn’t given it much thought,” said Jones, a three-sport star at Springdale High in football, track and basketball who graduated in 1946.

“It was just so different back then and the games have changed so much. There’s so many more good players now and so many more coaches, but I guess I do have some friends in the Hall of Fame and it is nice to be going in.”

Jones has been selected for induction as part of an 11-member class that will increased the hall’s membership to 60.

This year’s other inductees are Billy Paul Backus (graduated from Springdale High in 1943), Greg Culp (1979), Kenneth Gibbons (1973), Mike Gibbons (1974), Franklin Graham (1962), Jamie Green (1998), Mike Lankford (1970), Junior Smith (1969), John Tyson (meritorious service) and Sonny Zachary (1962).

PROFILE

Charles Jones

GRADUATION YEAR: 1946

SPORT/CONTRIBUTION: Football, basketball and track and field

NOTABLE: Jones was a three-year letterman in football and track and a two-year letterman in basketball. He helped Springdale High win a state championship in football in 1944 and won the conference title in the 100- and 220-yard dashes during his senior season (1946).

Jones was a big part of bringing championships to Springdale before titles became the norm. Well before Jarrell Williams arrived at Springdale High, Jones helped the Bulldogs to a state title during the 1944 season, playing both offensive and defensive back.

“Earl Voss was our coach and he coached everything back then,” Jones said. “He did a pretty good job and we won a lot of championships.”

On the track, Jones was perhaps even more of a standout, winning the conference 100- and 220-yard dashes during his senior year in 1946. But like most Springdale athletes during his day and the days to follow, Jones admits football was his first love.

“I often said back then that I majored in football and Elaine, who ended up being my wife,” Jones said. “I ate, slept and drank football.”

After high school, Jones joined the Army, serving with the 82nd Airborne Division. He continued to excel in football and track in the military, playing tailback and running for the 440 and 880 relay teams at Fort Bragg.

After his years in the Army, Jones earned a doctoral degree in physics and would spend his professional career at several universities, including Missouri-Rolla, Arkansas and Texas A&M-Commerce.

All the while he was away, however, Jones dreamed of returning to his old stomping grounds.

“This has always been home,” said Jones, who returned to Springdale in 1993. “When I was in College Station I used to always think of Northwest Arkansas and Springdale. So we came back home and we’ve been here ever since.”

Tickets to this year’s Hall of Fame banquet are $10 per person, and are being sold at the Springdale Athletic office at 509 East Emma Ave. For more information, call 750-1680 or e-mail [email protected] or [email protected].

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