By: Austin Alexander – January 9, 2017
You can likely count on one hand the number of people that have made a legitimate difference in your life. I challenge you now, who are those five people for you?
Dean Jones is easily in my top 5. Know the name?
729 prep wins to be exact, 4 state titles, former players had grandsons play for the legend. The stadium is named for him.
Coach Jones was a winner of the highest order. He won baseball games at a premium level, he won in other ways too.
It was 1992, a young frustrated player from a nearby high school that respected this legend from Chesnee got a call to meet in his office. I knew who he was obviously, he found my home phone number for a reason.
He summoned me, I was there at 8:00 AM with zero reason as to why I was there. It was the day before school was to begin in August of 1992.
An opposing coach that I would never win a game for set me straight. In a very calm voice, he put me in my place.
Through my experiences of playing against his teams, being a teammate of his players, recruiting his players and scouting his clubs, it sort of comes down to this…
Coach Jones impacted a community for sure, so many that knew him better than me could tell hundreds more stories.
This man loved strawberries and filling his winter stove with wood. Coach Jones also loved filling his house with young men…
Coach Jones was a winner that inspired me to inspire others. Let’s all aspire to be like Coach Jones!
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