Track and Field Meet to Honor Late Florida Coach
Tuesday, April 13, 2010 | Track and Field
When the University of Florida track and field teams compete this Saturday at James G. Pressly Stadium at Percy Beard Track, it will be a little more meaningful than just your ordinary track meet. The third-annual Tom Jones Memorial Classic will serve to honor longtime Gator women's track and field coach Tom Jones, who died in 2007 after a courageous battle with cancer.
The meet begins at 1 p.m. ET and admission is free and open to the public.
“The Tom Jones Memorial Classic is in memory of our former women's head coach Tom Jones,” Florida head coach Mike Holloway said. “Tom holds a very special place in my heart and in the hearts of anybody who was involved with the track and field programs while he was here. We definitely want to make sure we put on a good show and have a great meet in Tom's memory.”
Jones oversaw the Florida women's program for nearly half of its existence, serving as head coach for 15 of the program's 35 seasons. Hired prior to the 1992 cross country campaign, Jones guided 71 athletes to 245 All-America honors on the track, while his teams posted a combined 15 top-10 finishes at the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships. Under Jones, UF turned in its highest NCAA finishes of second in 2003, 2004 and 2005, all at the indoor championships.
Participating teams include Brown, host Florida, Florida Atlantic, Kentucky, Princeton, South Florida, UCF and UCLA (women). In a special twist to the meet, UCLA is Jones' alma mater.
Jones' influence is so far reaching that it seems each of the teams coming to this weekend's meet at Percy Beard Track also bring with them a memory of Jones.
When it came to Jones, many considered him just as much of teacher to fellow coaches as he was to his own athletes, according to Caryl Smith Gilbert, head coach of the UCF team that will compete on Saturday in Gainesville.
“Coach Jones was always a very positive person,” Smith Gilbert said. “He gave me encouragement at every meet and always told me I was doing a good job with my athletes.”
Jones' athletes were evidence of that philosophy during his tenure as Florida's head coach. Jones led his squads to six Southeastern Conference titles (1997 indoor & outdoor, 1998 outdoor, 2002 indoor, 2003 outdoor, 2004 indoor), while helping his athletes claim 77 SEC individual or relay titles. He was named NCAA Women's National Indoor Coach of the Year in 1997 and 2002, and the NCAA Outdoor Coach of the Year in 1997.
For all of the latest information on Florida track and field, please log on to www.GatorZone.com/trackfield or, for up-to-the-minute updates, follow the team's Twitter account @GZTrackField or www.twitter.com/GZTrackField.
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