Johnny Jones: Off The Court During his Time as a Player for LSU (LONG!)

I remember those heady days during the early eighties when JJ played for the Tigers and the Pete Maravich Assembly Center was known nation wide as the Deaf Dome...with good reason. I remember sitting in my seat next to my brother and watching a close SEC battle or a highly ranked team in an epic battle against those Tigers. Watching JJ bring it up court and set up the offense always gave me confidence. His steals at key times during these games always brought us to our feet.

But that's not what this thread is about.

My brother, during those days, was a sheetrock hanger. We both were. He was married and had a toddler and I was a single bar-hopper living over in some apartment on Sherwood Forest Blvd. Jim decided that he wanted to coach a boy's BREC League basketball team in his spare time after work and on weekends. It's been a long time ago but I think that they were 9-10 year olds? Somewhere around there, anyway. It was a long time ago.

I went to some of the games when I didn't have anything else to do...which was alot of times back then. They were a bunch of misfits just like any random group of kids that age are. A couple of them could shoot and dribble...a little but generally just an average group of slightly less than atheletic kids who both loved to play and wanted to win at something.

Long story short they just kept winning. Someone always stepped up. One thing that I remember about those games is that everyone always played. Talent didn't matter to their coach. Those kids showed up for practice and every single game knowing that none of them were bench-warmers and had an enthusiasm for the game that was a joy to watch.

I can't remember any of their names but I just loved to watch them play. The silly mistakes, the crestfallen faces when one of them turned the ball over, the sheer, unmitigated enthusiasm and joy after a close win.

They made it to the city championship and won it in the final game with an impossible, improbable, unconcious 20-footer thrown up by a little boy who could take that shot 100 more times and never touch the rim...or even reach the rim.

You see, he hadn't played in the game yet. Jim put him in...in triple overtime for the city championship for him to get his playing time. He had forgotten about him during regulation. And the first and second overtimes. He knew that doing it would probably cost them the game but he did it anyway.

I'm sure everyone here knows how pissed off parents can get during such a tense moment and they let Jimmy have it from the stands. One kid's mon actually dug her fingernails into my leg, painfully, I might add, as she watched the little boy take the floor for her son. He was the best player on the team. She never said a word and never took her eyes off of the court. She was totally unaware that she was nearly drawing blood from my thigh.

You probably have seen enough Hollywood sports movies to know what happened next. Yep...3...2...SWISH...1...buzzer. The really hilarious part, looking back on it was the resounding chorous of, "NOOOOOOOO!!!!" from our kids' parents and friends and loved ones when the ball was passed to this little guy as the seconds ticked off and he took the shot.

They held a banquet at one of the kids' parents' house. It was a crawfish boil. The BREC trophy wasn't all that great so Jim kicked in and bought them all better ones. The parents bought Jim one...'Coach of the Year' or some bullshite like that. Jim was so proud of them and wanted to surprise them at the banquet with something special.

He called the LSU AD and explained the situation and asked if Dale Brown might find the time to speak to the kids at the banquet.

Dale Brown was busy and regretted that he couldn't make it that Saturday and would it be alright if Johnny Jones and some of the players came to celebrate with the boys and shoot a few hoops with them and maybe give them a little speech?

Yes, that was alright.

That was singularly one of the best crawfish boils or any gathering of friends that I have ever been to. We all ate and then Mr. Jones spoke elequently of how his season as a player that year hadn't matched those boys' championship season and that he wasn't sure that he deserved to present such champions an award. He told them that he wasn't worthy of them and humbled himself in front of a bunch of kids and their parents.

He them presented each boy their trophy and shook their hands and offered his congratulations. He also presented their coach with the trophy that the parents had purchased for him.

Then he and several of the players that had come with him spent around a half an hour playing basketball with the boys in the backyard. It was a small goal with less than half court of concrete but it was regulation height and some of the players slammed the ball much to the ooohs and ahhhs of the boys.

I wish that I had known that the memory of that day would be one of my best ones. I would have liked to thank Johnny Jones and those other players for taking time out of their lives for those boys way back then.

I am proud to say that I was fortunate enough to meet Coach Jones. I am proud to this day of those boys. And I am proud of my brother for remaining true to his principles and sending that little boy in regardless of the outcome.

I hope that someone tells Johnny Jones that this is here and I remember what he did for those awe-stricken little over-achievers after he and his friends stepped into that little backyard.

If someone does...tell him that I said thanks.