Tony Jones, point guard on LCU title team, dies unexpectedly

The Lubbock Christian University men's basketball team, in the midst of a 27-4 season earlier this year, set the school single-season victories record when the Chaparrals reached 25 wins.

The record they broke had stood for 39 years. Tony Jones was the point guard on the 1982-83 team that won the program's first conference championships, the Texas Intercollegiate Athletic Association regular-season and tournament titles. Jones was a 2015 inductee into the LCU Athletics Hall of Honor.

Jones died unexpectedly on Tuesday in Atlanta, Georgia. Former LCU coach John Copeland, relating information from an ex-Chaps teammate of Jones's in Atlanta, said Jones was stricken at work with a sudden illness. Jones had had "a really, really tough" bout with the coronavirus about a year and a half ago, Copeland said.

In 1981, Jones transferred from Clarendon College to LCU and helped transform the program.

"I think everybody knows he was a great point guard, and all his teammates know he made everybody better," Copeland said Wednesday. "But what people don't know, as a young coach, he helped (me) recruit and he helped tie everything together.

"It was just amazing to have a guy like that come in. He didn't have a great juco year, but we were lucky to get him. He was a remarkable person and point guard too, just unbelievable."

Jones was a two-time all-TIAA first-team and all-District 8 honoree. He finished his two-year LCU career with 410 assists, still third in program history, and was named to the Chaps' all-decade team for the 1980s.

The 5-foot-11 guard from Maysville, Kentucky, averaged 12.5 points and 6.1 assists for the 1981-82 season and averaged 7.0 assists the following season, which is still the Chaps' single-season record. LCU finished those seasons with records of 16-13 and 24-9.

The Chaps weren't winning much before Jones arrived, and their 16 wins in 1981-82 were a program record.

"Those guys were so coachable," Copeland said. "You didn't have the shot clock, and you've got a point guard that could handle it like he could and everybody knew their role and what shot to take. That was probably as good a team as I've ever coached or even knew of was that bunch. The next year was (winning with) talent."

Jones, 6-5 forward Jeff Brush and 6-6 post man Harold "York" Jones each earned all-TIAA recognition after the 1982-83 season.

As good as Tony Jones was at distributing the ball, Copeland said he was equally gifted on defense, especially defending the fast break.

"Larry Hays coached the girls that year, and we were together on the road," Copeland said, noting that each would sit on the bench and assist during the other's games. "A team would get two-on-one against us, and we'd go, 'Place your bets.' He (Jones) would bait them to throw a bounce pass, and he'd be gone with it toward the other end. Guys who'd played with him said he had been like that on the playground forever. He just had a knack."

The coach's daughter, Jonelle Sears, wrote on Facebook that she referred to Jones as "Uncle Tony" because he had stayed in touch over the years, either sending her encouraging texts or just to check in every couple of weeks.

"He was positive about people," Copeland said.