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For 32 years, the late G. Scott
Jones made a name for himself as an official
throughout Southern Illinois and the
Midwest. While calling basketball, football
and baseball he was most visible on the
hardwood as an IHSA referee. Jones whistled numerous Regional, Sectional,
and Super-Sectional games and called three
IHSA state title games. The most notable of
the title games was the triple overtime
thriller won by East St. Louis (Lincoln)
over Peoria (Central) in 1989.
He also served as a basketball rules
interpreter for the IHSA and was a certified
basketball clinician. Jones was a
supervisor of officials at both the IHSA
girls and boys state basketball
tournaments.
At the Junior College level, he worked
twelve straight Region 24 championship games
and called the 1999 NJCAA Division I
national championship game. Jones also
refereed NCAA Division I and Division II
games for the Missouri Valley and Great
Lakes Conferences for several years.
Jones
was a founding member and past president of
both the Southern Illinois Basketball
Officials Association and the JUCO Officials
Association. He spent many hours helping
young officials hone their skills.
He
umpired baseball at the high school and
college level and as a football official,
his crew called the 2002 IHSA Class 8A
championship contest.
Jones
was inducted into the IBCA Hall of Fame as
an official in 2000, and in 2012 he was
recognized as a distinguished alumnus by the
Centralia High School Alumni Association.
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