a great Suwannee athlete



Janet Schrader

Democrat Reporter



Mike Jones teaches little kids the computer at Suwannee Primary School. He says this is tons of fun. But once upon a time, Jones was drafted 13th by the Toronto Blue Jays and he was a Suwannee High basketball coach.

Jones was born and raised right here in Live Oak. He played basketball and baseball as a Bulldog and won a scholarship for both to Valdosta State. At VS Jones set many records and in 2002 was elected to the Valdosta State Sports Hall of Fame. Jones set the record at VS for the Most At-Bats with 271, Most Total Bases at 166, Most Hits in One Game at six and Most Hits in a Season. All still stand except for the Most Total Bases which was broken this year.

Jones went to VA as a pitcher, but he had a great bat.

“I loved to hit so they moved me to right field,” Jones said. “I said to the coach, ‘There are guys DH-ing for me that I know I can out hit.’ So he moved me to right field.”

Jones was drafted 15th by the Blue Jays as a junior but stayed in college and was drafted 13th, again by the Blue Jays. While playing on the Florence Blue Jays, an “A” League team, he won the “A” League World Series. Jones wears his World Series Ring.

Jones never made it to the big time. He batted .421 at Valdosta State and from .273 to .300 in the minor leagues. In 1989 Jones and the Blue Jay organization parted company.

Jones came back to Live Oak to be his own SHS basketball coach, Barney Cato’s, assistant. Jones coached with Cato from 1987 to 1989. When Cato left, Jones took over.

“Everything I learned about coaching, I learned from Coach Cato,” Jones said. “He coached me from junior high. We had our best seasons under him.”

The best season Jones had playing as a Bulldog was 1979. The Dogs went all the way to the Regionals where they lost by one point to Bishop Kenny.

Jones was the Head Basketball coach from 1990-1993. During those three years, his best season was his last. The team went 16-5 for that year and were district runner-up.

As head coach for the Dog basketball team, Jones said he hoped he was a role model for the kids. There was a great booster club for the three years Jones headed the Dogs. Jones’ mother was the treasure, Bonnie Brown and Cora Owens were top dogs at the booster club and Sonja Riley was on the board.

Jones had some great players come through his program; Quinton Broxey, Anthony Williams, Andrew Baker, Dwayne Ansley and Kenyon Ford who was later killed in a car accident.

Jones had many goals as a coach. “Of course we wanted to win,” Jones said. “But I knew I was giving these kids an opportunity to do something with their athletic ability. Sports is a good motivation to get kids to come to school, stay in school and be motivated to get good grades. I always told them, you’re students first, athletes second.”

When Jones held tryouts, 25-30 kids would come out just for varsity. With JV and varsity together over 50 kids tried out for basketball in the Jones years.

“Conditioning was one of the most important things on our team. We practiced skills like dribbling and passing and shooting, but the kids had to have the stamina to last the whole game,” Jones said.

Under Jones, Suwannee defense was a little zone one-three-one and a little man-to-man.

“I based my program after all the years I played for and coached with Barney Cato,” Jones said.

Jones used plays from his college days, his high school days and some he just dreamed up.

Jones lives right here in Live Oak with his wife Jackie and two children Anitra and Marquise. He was and still is a great Suwannee County athlete.