A Conversation with Coach Lorenzo Jones
Lorenzo Jones maintains a presence that never goes unnoticed. His tall appearance is hard to miss as he towers over most around him. Yet it is his sense of humility and grace that rises to even greater heights. Wearing gear from both of his alma maters, in the form of an Atlantic Christian College hat, and a West Craven basketball shirt, he extended his hand and said, “you have me all nervous,” after seeing my stapled papers of questions. With a smile and laugh, I quickly made an attempt to lessen the seriousness of our conversation, mostly in an attempt to settle my own nerves. I could not help but think of the countless interviews he had given over the course of his career. What was it that made this one so different? I found my answer to that question by observing the process that Coach Jones underwent for each response. It became clear that these kinds of questions had rarely, if ever, been asked to him. They went far beyond the basic recap of a game or season preview that would be seen in the local paper. Each question required reflection that was evident with the careful thought and judgment that Coach Jones gave to each answer. They are the same traits that have been represented so eloquently in a life that Lorenzo Jones so gracefully presented in this conversation.
MB: So we’ll go ahead and start from the beginning, where were you born and raised and what did your folks do for a living?
LJ: I was born and raised in Cove City and my parents- I was actually raised by my aunt, and they did some farm work and so they had a little small farm themselves. My uncle, he worked at the Warmack Lumber Company for a long time. You know, he did different things and was logging at one time and just tried different things to keep the family together and keep it going.
MB: So I guess you took after him, in terms of work ethic?
LJ: We really didn’t have much of a choice because everyone had to carry their own weight. I was taken down to the tobacco barns as soon as I could walk, especially during the summer. And yeah, we did everything; picked blueberries, did tobacco, cucumbers, whatever it took to, you know, make it. So he taught us to work, taught us to work hard and it paid off.
MB: So what was that area like, the Cove City area, from the time you were born and through your early years?
LJ: It was actually one big family because everybody looked after everybody. Nobody went hungry and all the kids grew up together, played together, and got along. We actually had the opportunity to play baseball, had softball teams, so it was one big community.
MB: So you got started in sports, how old were you when you started playing ball?
LJ: Well, I first started playing when we had our little Cove City team, I was probably about twelve or thirteen when I first started playing baseball against grown men. My first team I actually made, I went out for basketball at the Fort Barnwell School in Fort Barnwell and I was in the eighth grade and luckily I was able to make the team and it’s where I got my first start and I actually played for Jasper. I actually went to four different schools in four years.
MB: Wow.
LJ: Yeah, so I went from Clyde A. Evervin, the all back school, then we went to Newbold, and that was the first year of integration, and the next year I went to the Fort Barnwell Elementary, then went to Jasper in ninth grade, and West Craven opened in tenth grade.
MB: You were on the go.
LJ: Yeah, so we bounced around, like I said, four schools in four years.
MB: That’s crazy.
LJ: Yeah, it really was.
MB: Did you favor one sport over the other back then? Or were you versatile in all the sports you played.
LJ: Well, I was pretty versatile. I was probably, to be honest, a better baseball player. When you’re playing basketball you kind of transitioned because you’re always thinking about the NBA and all that. But I’d have to say I was a better baseball player because, like I said, I started playing against grown men when I was twelve and thirteen, we had a community team, and I came to West Craven in the tenth grade and made the baseball team, and made the basketball team.
MB: Did you always have a height advantage over most people your age?
LJ: Yeah, I did but I was just growing up like everyone else and didn’t realize it. But yeah, I kind of had an advantage when it came to basketball and it helped me in baseball too, you know, being a pitcher and all.
MB: What kind of student would you say you were back then?
LJ: I was a good student. I really was. I think I made my first B in the eighth grade.
MB: You remember those things.
LJ: I remember those things. So my report card looked real good. Then the transition to West Craven was a little bit different because you’re around different students and you had different subjects that we had never been exposed to. So it took a while to catch up. We didn’t know what algebra was and all that kind of stuff.
MB: Could you tell there was a difference between other schools? Was there a split difference in students that were experienced in those subjects?
LJ: Yeah, probably so. Because, you know, I’m sure folks at Farm Life probably had a different experience than what we had. Folks at Jasper probably had a different experience than what we had. But we had good teachers in elementary school, we really did, but like I said, we had never been exposed to a lot of stuff because we were so local, everybody right there grew up in Cove City. I didn’t have anybody in my family go to college before I did, so I had nobody to come back and tell me what I needed to do or the path I needed to take. So, I pretty much took it on my own to choose some stuff that would help me get into college and go from there.
MB: What year did you graduate from West Craven High School?
LJ: ‘74
MB: And did you know then that you wanted to possibly be a coach and do that as a career? When did that idea enter your mind?
LJ: It probably entered my mind my second year of college. Like I said, I hadn’t been exposed to a whole lot of stuff, so as far as picking a major, deciding if I was to be a business major or this, that, and the other. I knew I liked to play. I loved PE and I enjoyed my high school basketball coach, Tom Langdon, who treated us nice and did a good job with us. So that's probably when I decided that’s the route I wanted to go.
MB: Where did you go to college?
LJ: Atlantic Christian in Wilson.
MB: And what was your major?
LJ: Health and PE
MB: So that was the late 70s when you graduated?
LJ: I graduated in ‘78
MB: What was your first career move after completing college in ‘78
LJ: West Craven High School.
MB: You jumped right on board.
LJ: Yeah, I graduated on my birthday in 1978, and I jumped right into West Craven and luckily got a job.
MB: What was that hiring process like?
LJ: Oh man, you won’t believe it. I’m going to tell you the story now.
MB: Yes, sir.
LJ: Well, back then, West Craven was going through a transition where they had demoted the varsity basketball coach, they wanted to put another guy in. Mr. Jolly was coming over for the first time and he had promised this guy from Jones Senior, one of his buddies, that he could coach football, basketball, and AD, pretty much everything. There was only one PE opening left because when they did that demotion the other coaches actually left West Craven, everybody except Mr. Hughes. So only one job was created and they already made a commitment, I guess, to Coach Jordan to fulfill that position. But before that had happened, the assistant principal, Mr. Adams, who was black, and some of the black teachers, wanted to try to get a black coach on staff.
MB: Were you the first black coaching staff member?
LJ: Well, they had one guy who coached JV ball at a time before I was there. But anyways, Mr. Adams got up with me and told me I needed to apply. So, what happened, I applied, but the superintendent decided I wasn’t qualified to coach varsity basketball because I was inexperienced. So, I went through that process. I was a little disappointed. So, in the meantime, things kind of got stirred up a little bit, I guess. The guy who Mr. Jolly planned to hire, he backed out. So, when he backed out they created two positions. The only one left there was Mr. Hughes, so they needed like three coaches at the time. So they called me back for another interview. They had me, Coach Jordan, and Mr. Hughes at the table, and just got to talking, saying, “Well, we decided to give you three guys a shot to coach at West Craven.” They asked Coach Jordan what he wanted and he said he’d take football, they got to me and I said I’d take basketball, and Mr. Hughes said he’d take baseball.
MB: There you go.
LJ: So, that’s pretty much how we got started.
MB: All at the same time.
LJ: All on the very same day. The process I had to go through was a little bit difficult on me, but I had to go through that situation and had to prove myself because everybody said, “Well, you’re not qualified,” but I played basketball in college, so they gave me a shot and we started out the first year with twenty games won and four losses.
MB: That proved it right there.
LJ: Yeah, and then the next year we were in the state championship.
MB: So ‘79 that would be?
LJ: 79-80, yeah then the ‘80 team went to the state championship, they were 22-2.
MB: Wow, your first two years.
LJ: We lost six games out of almost fifty.
MB: Who were some of the key players on your first teams there?
LJ: My first team there we had James Green who played- he ended up being the assistant principal at New Bern High School. We had a kid named Rufus Harris, probably the best basketball player that’s ever been at West Craven. Usually had a bunch of hard working guys, to be honest, yeah.
MB: Rufus Harris, what position did he play?
LJ: He was like a shooting guard/forward
MB: Did he go anywhere beyond West Craven?
LJ: He played for Craven. He kind of let his grades get the best of him. A lot of people wanted him and then we also had a guy here transfer in from New York, which was the piece we were missing for the championship team. (phone rings) I bet that’s James Green calling me right now. [(answers) “Let me call you back.”] We had a kid named Mike Emmanuel transfer my second year there. He kind of was the piece of the puzzle that we needed to take us on over the top. We lost one regular season game. We were up twenty points at East Carteret on a Saturday. It was about ten degrees in that gym and things kind of got away from us, you know, so that was the only game we lost. But we had people following us from- we used to pack that joint, home and away.
MB: I was going to ask what the support was like.
LJ: It was amazing.
MB: The more you win, the more people show up.
LJ: It was amazing, yeah. We had a great following because we ended up playing the state championship game at Durham High School. So people would drive in from wherever they lived in the east, drive to Durham every- a lot of people didn’t have motel money, so they’d just come back home. If we won, they’d go back the next night. So we ended up there for the whole three games.
MB: So, you were talking about how a lot of schools wanted those players, what were the biggest schools that got in contact with you about those guys.
LJ: I know the school I played for came down to see him, I can’t even think right off hand. There were just so many of them back then. But, like I said, the grades kind of got the best of them. Mike did go to Pembroke State, he became an All-American. Yeah, Rufus just went to Craven, played his time there, and James ended up going to Methodist and starting there. So yeah, you know, we had some good players.
MB: Some good representation. Since you were talking about playing in college, did you look up to your coach and take some of the things that you saw him doing for you as a coach? Or did you just kind of do your own thing?
LJ: Well, it was kind of a combination. I actually went to college on a baseball scholarship.
MB: Really?
LJ: Yeah, people don’t believe that.
MB: Wow, so tell that story. You’re on a baseball scholarship, you get there, do you just try out for the basketball team? How does that work?
LJ: Yeah, I go over there and I’m on the baseball team and then they saw I was in the gym messing around one day and so the basketball coach asked me if I wanted to try out. I said “Yeah I’d give it a shot.” So I ended up making the basketball team. I only played baseball for like a year and a half, which is one of my biggest regrets ever.
MB: Not continuing baseball?
LJ: Not continuing baseball, because that was my best sport.
MB: Did you primarily pitch?
LJ: I pitched, played outfield, infield, third base. Anywhere, pretty much.
MB: So when you returned to West Craven, was the basketball team already in pretty good shape from the year before you got there? Or did you have to develop some of those guys?
LJ: Well, to be honest, they had- the year before I got there probably should have been one of the better teams, because they had all the players that I pretty much got the next year. Plus they had maybe two guys under six foot on that team.
MB: Wow, you don’t see that a whole lot.
LJ: Yeah. They had 6’9” kids, 6’6”, 6’7”. They were loaded and they should have been, anyway.
MB: Was it just because of the leadership?
LJ: I’m not going to- I’m not going to put anybody down. But when I got there-
MB: Things changed.
LJ: Things changed, yeah. I inherited those good country guys. They all worked together, they all played hard. You know, we didn’t have great, great talent, but we put it all together and played for one cause and once we got going, it was a good thing.
MB: What was the biggest learning curve like in those early years as a head coach? Obviously you had a good team and you started out strong being in the state championship and running up for that. But what comes to mind when you think of that learning curve?
LJ: Well, the biggest learning curve was, let me think, probably really learning the whole game and being able to teach it and get it over to them. You know, when you start out you don’t know everything, so, it feels like sometimes you might have made a second guess on something, but you just do the best you can. Most of the time when I was out there I got locked in because I didn’t have much of a choice. I didn’t have four or five assistants walking around, helping out like that.
MB: So was it just you?
LJ: Just me.
MB: Just you, wow.
LJ: Yeah and then on game nights Coach Jordan would be my assistant and just sit on the bench with me, but as far as practice and everything- so, I had to just pretty much teach my kids what I knew to make things happen.
MB: How many guys did you usually have on the team?
LJ: We always kept between twelve to fifteen.
MB: You mentioned the first runner-up year. I know there was a second one, also. What year was that?
LJ: ‘86
MB: ‘86 and I believe Jesse Campbell was around then.
LJ: Yeah, Jesse Campbell was on that team, yeah.
MB: So was he one of the key guys in that group?
LJ: Yeah he was and we had a guy named Gary Blount, he was the 3-A player of the year.
MB: For the whole state?
LJ: For the whole state, yeah. Same case, we had Morris Jones, he went to Norfolk State and ended up playing football there big time, but he got hurt his senior year and that kind of hurt us.
MB: Did he get hurt playing football?
LJ: He got hurt in football and by the time he got around to basketball he had to wear this big ‘ole brace, so he actually wasn’t a starter, he was a fill-in, which otherwise he would have been a starter for us. But that was a good, hard working basketball team, too. We played the first 3-A state championship game in the Dean Dome. The very first year it opened.
MB: That’s right, yeah.
LJ: And that same case- everybody left Vanceboro to come see the dome and come see us.
MB: Who was it that you guys played that year?
LJ: We played the same team that we played the time before, R-S Central. I won’t ever forget those players. Yeah, we played the same team.
MB: So what was the game like? Was it really close?
LJ: Yeah it was- we ended up losing by one or three.
MB: Wow. It came down to the end.
LJ: So what happened, you know, we were down a little bit and we kind of had a chance to go ahead, the guy missed a layup, pretty much with about a minute or so to go and then we had to foul. So we ended up losing by about three, but they had a couple of guys that ended up going to Clemson to play. So they had “basketball” basketball players. And the first time we went, we were down, I think we were down by about sixteen points going into the fourth quarter and we worked our way back in that game, had a chance to take the lead and ended up losing by three in that game.
MB: Would you say mainly on those teams you just had really good athletes, or solid “basketball” players.
LJ: No, we had more athletes, most of those guys were football players.
MB: At that point, this the mid-80s, was it still just you at the main guy? Did you have anybody with you on those state championship trips?
LJ: Coach Jordan went, so he was there for the first one. James Green, the guy who played the first time around, was my assistant on the second one.
MB: He came back around.
LJ: Yeah he came back around and then he ended up being the coach at New Bern high school.
MB: You’ve been talking a lot about two-sport, even three-sport athletes. What were their competition levels like? Nowadays you see more and more guys focusing on one sport and a guy like Jesse Campbell would just stick to football. But what was his competition level like? Was he just out there going for it each and every game?
LJ: Oh man, all out each and every game.
MB: I heard he had some impressive dunks, too.
LJ: No doubt, we had a special play set up just for him. So every time we gave the signal, our crowd got so used to it, they’d start standing up.
MB: They knew what was coming.
LJ: They knew what was coming, before we even ran the play, so we had to change the signal just to keep them from giving it away.
MB: What position did he play?
LJ: He played like a forward/guard, and had a little combination. He was just a good athlete- great athlete with great hands.
MB: Someone like Anthony Wright, Lee Becton, those guys that went to college football and beyond, they’re out giving it their all on the court?
LJ: Lee was probably the best defensive player we ever had at West Craven.
MB: Really?
LJ: Good God, he was so quick. Yeah, we just put him in the middle of that press and he was all over the place.
MB: I’m sure it makes a difference to have guys who are willing to go out there and just compete, you know, regardless of what sport it is.
LJ: People don’t realize that it helps you. Basketball helps your footwork, conditioning, toughness, and everything else. So we never got in a situation where we tried to make one guy just specialize in one thing. You know, play what you want. You can get hurt walking across the street. So, you know, we never did that.
MB: In that era, who were some of the toughest teams and players to play against?
LJ: We actually played against Keith Gatlin who went to Maryland. He was there with Len Bias. I worked basketball camp two summers with Len Bias at Maryland. I was supposed to go a third, but decided not to go the summer he actually OD'd. But we had Gatling, played against a guy from New York, he was the first seven footer we played against.
MB: Seven foot! You don’t see that a whole lot.
LJ: Yeah, his name was Zendon Hamilton, I think. He was seven foot.
MB: What school was he from?
LJ: Somewhere out of New York. They came down to Washington for a tournament and we ended up playing him. We ended up beating them, though.
MB: How tall was the guy who was guarding him that game?
LJ: About 6’5”.
MB: That’s probably the tallest you had.
LJ: Yeah, that’s all we had.
MB: 6’5” around here is pretty tall.
LJ: We just had to lean on him and yeah, keep him off the glass, and let’s go. We ended up beating him.
MB: At what rate did you have guys from your team going to play college basketball? Was it a rare thing?
LJ: Like I said, we had hard working basketball players, but we never had that true, true person that was a D-1 basketball player.
MB: Aside from basketball, can you describe your role there at West Craven each day? Did you coach any other sports? If so, how did it help you as a basketball coach?
LJ: When I first got here, we coached three sports a piece. I helped out with football, helped out with track. But I ended up being the JV football coach and I really enjoyed that. We had the only undefeated season ever at West Craven. We were 10-0 and we actually won the first conference championship with Jesse Campbell playing JV football. It kind of put West Craven on the move as far as football.
MB: Did that help you keep that muscle memory of being a coach?
LJ: Yeah, because I really didn’t know a whole lot about football when I first started, but once I got hanging around Coach Jordan, Coach Caprara, Coach Murphy and all them, learning and I was able to take things pretty much on my own and do my own thing.
MB: Football then in the mid-80s era really took off.
LJ: Oh yeah, but I had some good JV teams, really did. And with track we had a kid end up second in the state in the hurdles, the Harris kid. And we also had one state champion, his brother won the high jump. 6’10” in the state championship. Yeah, I talked to him yesterday, matter of fact.
MB: That’s neat.
LJ: We had some great athletes, and Lee Becton had all kinds of records and stuff up there.
MB: How often do you keep in touch with your former athletes?
LJ: All the time. All the time. Yeah, I text and call, send messages to all the ones I have the numbers to.
MB: That’s cool.
LJ: Yeah, we get together sometimes, have lunch.
MB: Going back to your daily routine there at West Craven, after a loss during those mid-week games, was your mood affected during the next day at school? Or were you able to compartmentalize it.
LJ: Able to compartmentalize it, because my aunt always told me, “you coach so hard, you need to kind of calm down a little bit if you want to be out there for a while.” If you think about it, you can burn yourself out in a heartbeat. So, I learned to- you know, as long as you give it your best shot, do all you can, what more can you do? Who are you going to take it out on?
MB: Exactly, just move on.
LJ: Move on, yeah.
MB: How would you describe the balance between the personal life and the professional life? Obviously with a coaching schedule, it can be kind of tedious with longer hours.
LJ: I think it was a sacrifice in some ways because a lot of times, you know, you put in long hours because we only had one gym so I had to get the last practice. So it made for long days. Also, you give up Christmas holidays because you have tournaments and all that. With football starting in early August, you had to cut the summer vacations short. You went from one sport right to the next. So I spent a lot of extra hours that a lot of people probably wouldn’t have done, especially with all the Christmas stuff and Saturday practices. Like I said, in that position you kind of sacrifice some of your social life because you spend all your time with your profession, your school work, some weekends, sometimes you’d have games. You had to rest sometime, so you pretty much take it easy on weekends and try to recover.
MB: In what ways do you think you evolved as a coach from your first couple of years, going into the 2000s era.
LJ: I think I became a better teacher of the game because the game changed when they put the three-point shot out there.
MB: What year was that?
LJ: I’m not even sure. I hated that thing for a while.
MB: Really? Why was that? Was it harder to defend or just changed the whole game?
LJ: A little harder to defend. It kind of changed the whole game because instead of staying back in a zone, putting your hands up, you had kids standing out there, knocking them down. At the time we had no kind of shooter, we had to develop those.
MB: You really don’t think about that. Now the big men can shoot. All five positions are supposed to be able to shoot. Back then the five could just drive in, mid-range.
LJ: Yeah, you had a point guard, two forwards, two guards. Now everybody’s just- no positions, just go for it.
MB: So you could see that transition happening then.
LJ: Mhm, so we had to change. We had to change the way we- played a little faster, and learned to play better defense.
MB: In your last couple of years there, what was the program like then? I know in the early 90s there were a couple of conference championships, did you have anymore since then?
LJ: I’m not even sure, to be honest. Sometimes we didn’t win the conference but we went quite a ways in the districts and playoffs, stuff like that.
MB: And was the support for the basketball program- was that steady throughout?
LJ: Yeah, steady throughout. No matter how we did. West Craven always had the best following, we really did. There weren't many nights where that gym wasn’t full or packed.
MB: You mentioned that you kind of had to change the way your team played. How would you describe your team’s style of play? Of course, it did change as the game evolved
LJ: Yeah, we started to play faster, but we always played under control. We never had just one person getting thirty shots. We were a team, team concept.
MB: Was your style of play adjusted each year based on the players you had?
LJ: Based on what we had, yeah.
MB: So there wasn’t a specific style set in stone?
LJ: Nah
MB: You hear like Carolina, they’re always going to be fast.
LJ: They do the same thing, yeah.
MB: And they recruit fast guys, but you just kind of see what you got.
LJ: Yeah, in high school you see what you got and go with it, that’s the only difference.
MB: So, on that night against Havelock in your final year, I happened to be there. I was in third grade.
LJ: Yeah? Third grade?! Good, God
MB: Yep, Third grade. So the gym, the West Craven gym, was named after you that night.
LJ: Third grade, good, God.
MB: What was that feeling like at the halftime ceremony then when they unleashed the banner.
LJ: Man, it was very emotional, because my mom was there. My family was there. My mom always supported me because she got to the point where she would just come to the gate and she’d say “that’s my son coaching” and they wouldn’t stop her to pay and let her right on through. So, it was good to see them, my family, because they always supported me. I actually had a chance to coach my brother, I got the chance to coach my son, I got a chance to coach my cousins.
MB: Oh wow, full circle.
LJ: Yeah, full circle.
MB: What was it like coaching family members? Did you see them any differently compared to other players?
LJ: Not really. The main thing I wanted for my family- I didn’t want them coming to expect anything special. I tried not to treat them in any way special or put any extra pressure on them, forcing them to be anybody but themselves. We had a good relationship and it worked out fine. I had a lot of support from my family and I think they respected me as their coach. I know my son did, my brother did, all my cousins did. Like I said, when you’ve proven yourself, it gave me a pretty good chance to actually coach them and to be critical of them. Once the game is over, we’re still family and we move on from there
MB: What was that last season like? Did you know going into that season that it would be your last one?
LJ: Yeah, pretty much because what I had done probably the last three or four years, I started working with the girls.
MB: Oh, okay.
LJ: Yeah, I knew it because the way the retirement system is set up. It wasn’t so much that I didn’t love doing it, it just was a financial move. You know, put in thirty two years.
MB: Did you do anything differently in that thirty second year, both as a teacher and a coach? Or was it just business as usual?
LJ: It was the same thing. I just enjoyed my kids and I enjoyed teaching. A lot of people might not say that because it’s an experience, but you go to the school everyday, you get to meet kids and try to change them. Make them better.
MB: And so when you walked back into what was now known as “Lorenzo Jones Gym” after your retirement, was it hard to make the transition away from coaching, just sitting there watching it as a supporter?
LJ: It was at first, yeah. Because everybody would alway pick on you (sarcastically) “yeah, you got your own gym. I know you didn’t have to pay.” So stuff like that, but it was an easy transition, pretty much. Even when I go back now it’s a great feeling to see it up there.
MB: From your time there, I’m sure there are many examples of wasted potential. Of course, we see that all the time. I know I did as a student, with some of the guys I went to school with. I could see them going far beyond where they ultimately ended up. So what were your leadership methods to try and steer athletes and students in the right direction.
LJ: You just try to be honest, and try to be a good ear for them because, you know, a lot of kids didn’t get the same fair treatment all the time. So, they had to have somebody who could treat them right. That’s what I tried to do with my students and also my players. So I’d try to be there for them.
MB: So I’m going to ask a difficult one. It’s one of the final ones, but if you could have an all-time lineup of the players you coached, who would that starting five be? Regardless of position. Just your top five that you would send out there to play the best team.
LJ: (thinking)
MB: I know it’s tough. I’ll let you include a sixth man, just to make it a little bit easier.
LJ: Alright, well, one of the most difficult times that we had at West Craven, you may not have heard about it, when we had one of our players actually pass away.
MB: Oh, really?
LJ: Yeah. He actually passed away right there in the locker room. I know you probably haven’t ever heard that story.
MB: I haven’t, no.
LJ: Yeah. We had just finished up practice, and yeah he went into cardiac arrest right there at the high school. So, that was one of the most difficult times I ever had to go through. His name was DeWayne Becton and he probably would have been the best point guard coming through West Craven. He was that kind of talent. So, we lost him off the team and that really, really set us back for a while.
MB: Obviously that was your most challenging moment as a head coach. So how did you get through that?
LJ: Well, see I had been knowing him from the time he was born because he grew up right across the road from my house. So, I knew his family. I knew his brothers, mom, grandmama, and everybody, so I think we kind of got through it together. We had to.
MB: So would he be on that top five list?
LJ: As far as point guard, yeah.
MB: Do you have any more?
LJ: I would probably- I would have Rufus Harris, (thinking) I’ve always had so many kids that played hard. I’d probably have James Green. What is that, three?
MB: Mhm.
LJ: I would have … did I say Jesse already?
MB: Not yet.
LJ: Yeah, I’d have Jesse.
MB: Gotta include him.
LJ: Yeah, I’d have Jesse.
MB: And real quick, would you say he’s probably the best athlete to ever come through West Craven? Just in terms of Football, Basketball, Track-
LJ: Besides me?
MB: Oh yeah! Besides you.
LJ: Oh no, I’m just messing.
MB: Hey, I don’t know! I wish we had some tape. Is there any tape of Coach Jones out there on the diamond or on the court?
LJ: Nah, no. I was just teasing, but I was pretty decent. But, yeah, I’d probably have Jesse. For a scorer I’d have Emmanuel. Let me think. Man, there’s just so many of them.
MB: Yeah. That’s a good thing, too.
LJ: It really is.
MB: You’ve got so many competitors. I think that’s a common theme.
LJ: Yeah, I’ll get one more. Ask me another question.
MB: The final one here. What would you consider the most rewarding part of being not only a head coach, but a coach and a teacher there for all those years, all thirty two years?
LJ: Well, the most rewarding part was probably the respect that people would start to show towards me, and all that. You know, even the kids, after I retired, I’d walk in and they’d still recognize me a little bit. Just earning people’s respect. Going from a person who the superintendent said wasn’t qualified to somebody who’s actually got his name on the gym. I think that’s a big step.
MB: For sure.
LJ: Yeah, and I didn’t do it by myself. I didn’t go out there looking for credit or anything like that. I gave the kids the credit, and I just tried to lead and do the best I can. So it was very rewarding, it really was. You know, I spent thirty two years there. Not many people stay in one spot that long, especially after going to school there.
MB: For sure. Consistency right there.
LJ: You know how hard it is to come back home and try to prove yourself?
MB: For sure.
LJ: Plus you had to be- you know, being in my position, you sacrifice a lot. Especially since I was a young person, wanting to go out and do other things like everybody else.
MB: You kind of had to be locked in.
LJ: Had to be locked in, really.
MB: And also be a good example because you’re not too far removed from the guy’s your coaching.
LJ: Yeah, I was twenty two when I started.
MB: And you had some guys who were-
LJ: Nineteen, some of them, some of the seniors.
MB: You had to be that example.
LJ: So, I think I grew up quickly. Plus, I had to force myself not to be seen in certain places. Not to be seen out of order, doing crazy stuff, I just made that commitment and that’s what I would do because I knew everybody was expecting me to do the right thing and I had to carry the pressure of, you know, being “Coach Jones.”
MB: For sure, it’s a big title.
LJ: Because where can you go when nobody can recognize you? You know what I’m saying?
MB: That’s right, especially around here, in a small town.
LJ: Even now, I still have to be on my P’s and Q’s the best I can. But that’s a sacrifice that a lot of people probably wouldn’t have made. Want to “go to the club, go to club,” you got the students- come on now, I still deserve to go out. It was a challenge, it really was.
MB: I think it’s definitely paid off to do that. Just to wrap it up, are you still involved in terms of keeping up with basketball.
LJ: Yeah, I still go and support the teams, all the teams, baseball, football, basketball.
MB: I see you out there all the time.
LJ: Yeah, I go to the track stuff, and, like I said, there’s just something about that place, you know.
MB: It’s home.
LJ: Yeah, home pretty much. It was good to me, so.
MB: Well West Craven surely wouldn’t be what it is without Lorenzo Jones.
LJ: Yeah, I don’t know. I did the best I could, that’s all I can say.
MB: We all, the West Craven family both past and present, really do appreciate you and everything you’ve done for the school. I appreciate you sitting down to reminisce a little bit and talk about your great career, and just your overall great life.
LJ: Yeah, I thank the Lord for being able to do what I did. And how many more players do I have to come up with? (laughs)
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