We were there when they put another casket in the ground today and this time it was Steve Jones, a former Western Guilford Hornet, from back in the day…Today was a messy one(weather-wise), but this was a very dignified service and well-deserved, for this man who served his country in the United States Navy…
He served during the Cold War aboard Nuclear Attack Submarines and Mr. Jones was a highly decorated Veteran…
Today they had the military gun salute for Jones and the U.S. Navy was there today in full regalia at the Green Hill Cemetery, here in Greensboro….
Steve Jones time had come and he was gone on age 60, becoming unresponsive while shopping for his family’s Christmas presents on December 22, at the Friendly Shopping Center….Heart attack and congestive heart failure seem to be the main issues for cause of death…
Steve Jones was not one of those “blue-chip” athletes that came out of Western Guilford High School, but he did play football and he wrestled for a time at WGHS…He had the opportunity to get to know and train under Bill Hollifield and that in itself, is something nobody would ever forget…To be on/in the ‘Hollifield field of play’ brings one memories that you can not put aside, they fill your mind for a lifetime…
Steve Jones was a very strong UNC Tar Heel fan and I do remember that about him, and as an avid sports fan, he really tracked/followed his nephew Tommy Harris and his niece Tracy Harris, while they were on sports teams at Western Guilford High School…
Jones may not have been the QB, but he knew two kids that were equal in athletic talent to any quarterback that ever laced up his or her boots/shoes, for the Western Guilford Hornets…
Tommy Harris was All-Conference in Football, Wrestling and Baseball his senior year in high school, and as for baseball and football, he was among the top players in the state…Tommy now works in Charlotte and is doing very well for himself and he looks like he could still go a few downs in a football game on a Friday or Saturday night….Tommy led the state of North Carolina in fumble recoveries his senior year in high school and I think he had a total of 7 fumble recoveries that year…Tommy played one year of college football at Guilford College and then he transferred to UNC-Charlotte, and graduated as a Charlotte 49er….At Western Guilford Tommy played football for Charlie Griffin and baseball for Coach Chris Causey and, and I think the wrestling coach, was Coach Melton, when Tommy Harris was at WG…
Tommy got the job done and earned his spot/place in Western Guilford football and baseball folklore and his sister Tracy did the same thing, although she played volleyball, basketball and softball…Tracy now coaches volleyball and softball at East Burke High School, where she is also a teacher, and Tracy is a graduate of Appalachian State University…Tracy played high school volleyball for Coach Mickie Tuttle and basketball for Ginger Moore at WG, and I’m not exactly sure who her softball coach was, but she took what she learned from her coaches at Western Guilford and now she is sharing that with her student-athletes on the professional level, as a coach and teacher at East Burke High School….
In talking with Tommy and Tracy’s dad today; Ray Harris, we were able to look back at some of those key moments and important times in the athletic lives of Tommy and Tracy and we both pretty much felt the one factor that helped bring all of the mourners there today, was the fact that Steve Jones supported his nephew and niece on the Western Guilford sports teams/athletic teams and Steve Jones was a bigger WG Hornet booster after he left the Friendway Drive campus, than he was when he roamed the grounds as a student at Western….
Ray Harris also hearkened back to the days when Tommy and Tracy were just kids, playing for the teams at the Trotter Recreation Center, where Don Tilley served as the landlord/Rec Center director, back in the day….
Sometimes you really don’t begin to understand the underlying meaning of what part people played in other people lives, until you begin to peel back the onion…..
Steve Jones was there for all of his nieces and nephews and the families of Frank Jones and Debbie Harris are better off for it….
As we do these tribute posts on this website, we always seem to hit some key points about how other people changed and influenced the lives of others, and I guess we can say our old buddy Steve Jones left his mark of friendship and support on the Harris Family and the Jones Family, and he sure made life more interesting for those that knew him back in the day at Western Guilford High School…
Steve had a great sense of humor and I don’t think anyone would, or could argue that statement…Jones could make people laugh at the drop of a hat, and then once that happened you couldn’t stop laughing…We don’t get to laugh enough these days and someone’s death is sure not a laughing matter, but it is good when you can remember someone in a positive light….
The days back at Western Guilford with people like Steve Jones, Donnie Rumsey, Suzie Pickard, Marty Walsh, Davey Welborne, David Jones, Trip Ellington, those are names that you will carry with you until the next name is called, and it is time for another body to laid in the ground, or for that body to go through the cremation process…
Good to have those memories and it has always been pleasing and satisfying to be able to put the people, places, names, and faces into a sports blender, and bring back those days on the sports field of battle, into a special time of recollection….
Our old friend Steve Jones, gone and for sure not forgotten, and for Tommy and Tracy Harris, they can carry on the legacy built and nurtured by their uncle….
RIP for Steve Jones, and for those on board with us at GreensboroSports.com, have a safe and prosperous New Year….And to put it in simplified terms, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!