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As a Centralia High School senior, Dick
Jones captured 3rd place in the 180yd. low
hurdles at the 1954 IHSA State Track
Meet. He lowered his own school record
to 19.9 in the preliminaries and ran a 20.0
in the finals. His previous school
records wre 21.1 (1952)and 20.5 (1953).
To qualify for the state meet
he placed 2nd in the District Meet at East
St. Louis. He also placed 3rd in the
120yd. high hurdles and teamed with Bill
Norwood (HOF 1999), Robert Welch and Jon
Bechtold to place 3rd in the mile
relay. At the South-Seven Conference
Meet Jones won both the 180 low hurdles
(21.4 in the rain) and 120 high hurdles
(15.5).
In 1953 Jones qualified for the
State Meet in the low hurdles by setting his
CHS record and District Meet record of
20.5. He also teamed with Keith
Kirkland, Leslie Renfro and Bechtold to
lower the school record to 3:35 in the mile
relay as they qualified for the State Meet
by placing 2nd at the District Meet.
In the South Seven Conference he set a new
meet record of 20.8 to capture the low
hurdles, and he also placed 2nd in the high
hurdles. Jones combined with Bennie
Campbell, Bruce Phillips and Bechtold to set
a CHS record in the 480yd low hurdle shuttle
at 57.2.
Jones also qualified for the 1952
State Meet in the low hurdles by placing 2nd
in the District Meet. At the District
Meet he hooked up with Kirkland, Charles
Weathersby and Burl Chapman to win the mile
relay in a school record time of
3:37.6. This foursome also won the
Conference Meet (3:39.2) and was undefeated
on the season until reaching the state
meet. Jones was third in the
conference low hurdles.
He received four varsity track
letters as the Orphans won conference titles
each year.
Jones was also a standout in
other sports at CHS. In football he
played on teams that were 7-2 (1952) and
6-3-1 (1953). His senior year he
scored 11 touchdowns as he averaged 9.51
yards per carry in racking up 647 total
yards and ran 14 kick returns for a total of
140 yards.
Playing along side the likes of
Bobby Joe Mason (HOF 1981), and George
Marcum (HOF 1991), Jones played basketball
for Jimmie Evers on teams that were 22-9
(1953) and 25-7 (1954). Each year they
lost to Pinckneyville in sectional playoff
games. Jones received the outstanding
defensive award for 1954.
In 1955 Jones was a member of Chuck
Mundell's (HOF 1994) first Centralia Junior
College basketball team (HOF 2005).
This team was ranked as high as tenth in the
nation and finished 20-5.
Jones became head basketball
and track coach at Marion High School in
1963-64. His 1965 basketball team,
with players like Ray Fosse and Greg
Starrick, made it to the elite eight at
Champaign. In 1967 Starrick was named
First Team Parade All-American.
Jones was named South Seven Conference and
Southern Illinois Coach of the
Year.
He moved to Champaign
Centennial High School as head basketball
coach in 1969-70 and added head track
coaching duties in 1971-72. His 1972
basketball team won the school's first
regional title, and the next season
standout U.S. Davidson, achieved All-State
status. Individual track champions
under Jones came from U.S. Davidson - high
jump, Cindy Lawrence - high jump; and
Ben Beyers - 400 meters. Jones
relinquished his head coaching jobs in 1989,
but stayed on assisting as girls' basketball
coach until his retirement in 1994.
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