Ralph Jones
Encyclopedia
Ralph Robert Jones was an American football
and basketball
coach in the United States. He served as the head coach for the Chicago Bears
of the National Football League
from 1930 to 1932.
high school basketball and a successful college coach at Purdue and Illinois, Jones was named the recipient of the Indiana
Basketball Hall of Fame's inaugural Centennial Award on November 27, 2010. It is believed that Jones was the first high school basketball coach in the state of Indiana. While still a high school student, he organized the team at Indianapolis
Shortridge High School
in 1899 - the first high school team in Indiana. Jones led the Indianapolis YMCA
to statewide prominence, and then led the Crawfordsville YMCA, both of which claimed state YMCA championships under his guidance. Due to his success with YMCA based leagues, Butler University
contracted Jones to coach basketball for the 1903-04 season. This was the first "official" head coaching job in the long and successful career Jones would continue for the next 30 years.
Jones continued his coaching at Crawfordsville
this time at the local high school and additionally took on the head coaching duties of Wabash College
. During this period of time, Jones' teams were extremely successful. His teams at both institutions featured Hall of Fame inductees Ward "Piggy" Lambert
, Pete Vaughn
and David Glascock
, with the 1906-07 Crawfordsville squad finishing 12-0 (prior to the first high school state tournament) and his 1907-08 Wabash team going 24-0. While at Wabash, his team was selected from only 300 students yet in five years lost only four games, twice to Notre Dame
and once to Purdue
. During this successful run, Jones’ teams defeated much larger institutions such as, Illinois
, Purdue, Indiana
, Minnesota
and Notre Dame. Known as the “Little Giants”, they would put together a record of 75 wins and 6 defeats. Amazingly, during the same five years of coaching Wabash College, Jones was also coaching Crawfordsville High School which lost only one game during that time.
Jones moved on to Purdue in 1910, beginning a three-year tenure that resulted in a 32-9 record and the first two Big Nine championships
in program history (1911 and 1912). He also mentored the first All-American in Purdue basketball history, as Dave Charters garnered consensus honors in both 1910 and 1911 under Jones' watch.
for two years as well as being the assistant football coach to Bob Zuppke from 1913 through 1920.
After Ralph left Illinois he went to Lake Forest Academy
in Lake Forest, Illinois
. He was there for 10 years coaching both basketball and football. His football team won 76 games and lost only six games in his 10 years. His basketball teams had a 10-year record of 94 and 9.
retired as a player-coach
in 1930, he hired Jones to take over his team in place of himself as head coach. Even though Jones led the team to a 24-10-7 record, due to the economic depression which was affecting every business across the United States, the financial health of the franchise began to suffer. With many people out of work, fewer and fewer individuals could pay for the cost of a ticket to attend a Bears game. Consequently, even though the team won the league championship in 1932, by the end of the season the franchise had lost approximately $18,000. Dutch Sternaman unloaded his half of the team ownership onto Halas, and Halas was forced not only to resume coaching the team in order to save the cost of a head coach's salary, but to pay many of the team's expenditures out of his own pocket. During his tenure, Jones lined the quarterback directly under center, the first time this had been done. Next, he spaced out the offensive line and devised blocking schemes that would open holes in the defense. He refined the T-formation
by introducing wide receiver
s, tight end
s, and a halfback
in motion. Jones also introduced Bronko Nagurski
as a member of the Chicago Bears.
During his time at Lake Forest Academy, Jones tinkered with simple options on the basic T-formation. Many coaches were searching for answers to an easy-to-teach formation that was also not easy to defend. Jones approached George Halas with various diagrammed options. Not until Clark Shaughnessy
, head coach at the University of Chicago
, approached Halas with very complex formations in 1935 did the T become effective. Many coaches contributed to the success of the T-formation that swept college and pro football in 1940. Shaughnessy's Stanford University team
went 10–0 and defeated the University of Nebraska in the Rose Bowl with his elaborate T-formation. Weeks later, Halas's Bears defeated the Washington Redskins
73-0 with the same system. Jones left the Bears to become athletic director at Lake Forest College
in that Illinois town.
All told, Jones tallied 404 wins in his coaching career for a winning percentage of better than 83 percent. He also mentored nine college All-Americans.
Noted as a coach and mentor, the legendary Lambert dedicated his 1932 book, "Practical Basketball," to "Ralph Jones, my coach."
Also an innovator on the gridiron, Jones later coached the Chicago Bears to the 1932 NFL championship.
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
and basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
coach in the United States. He served as the head coach for the Chicago Bears
Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
of the National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
from 1930 to 1932.
Indiana
Jones was an integral part of the development of high school basketball. A forefather of IndianaIndiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
high school basketball and a successful college coach at Purdue and Illinois, Jones was named the recipient of the Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
Basketball Hall of Fame's inaugural Centennial Award on November 27, 2010. It is believed that Jones was the first high school basketball coach in the state of Indiana. While still a high school student, he organized the team at Indianapolis
Indianapolis
Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...
Shortridge High School
Shortridge High School
Shortridge High School is a public high school located in Indianapolis, Indiana. Opened in 1864, it is the oldest free, public high school in the state...
in 1899 - the first high school team in Indiana. Jones led the Indianapolis YMCA
YMCA
The Young Men's Christian Association is a worldwide organization of more than 45 million members from 125 national federations affiliated through the World Alliance of YMCAs...
to statewide prominence, and then led the Crawfordsville YMCA, both of which claimed state YMCA championships under his guidance. Due to his success with YMCA based leagues, Butler University
Butler University
Butler University is a private university located in Indianapolis, Indiana. Founded in 1855 and named after founder Ovid Butler, the university offers 60 degree programs to 4,400 students through six colleges: business, communication, education, liberal Arts and sciences, pharmacy and health...
contracted Jones to coach basketball for the 1903-04 season. This was the first "official" head coaching job in the long and successful career Jones would continue for the next 30 years.
Jones continued his coaching at Crawfordsville
Crawfordsville
Crawfordsville may refer to the following places in the United States:* Crawfordsville, Arkansas* Crawfordsville, Indiana* Crawfordsville, Iowa...
this time at the local high school and additionally took on the head coaching duties of Wabash College
Wabash College
Wabash College is a small, private, liberal arts college for men, located in Crawfordsville, Indiana. Along with Hampden-Sydney College and Morehouse College, Wabash is one of only three remaining traditional all-men's liberal arts colleges in the United States.-History:Wabash College was founded...
. During this period of time, Jones' teams were extremely successful. His teams at both institutions featured Hall of Fame inductees Ward "Piggy" Lambert
Ward Lambert
Ward Louis "Piggy" Lambert was an American college men's basketball coach. He was born in Deadwood, South Dakota. In 1890, Lambert and his family moved to Crawfordsville, Indiana. He played basketball at Crawfordsville High School and Wabash College, both under coach Ralph Jones, who himself...
, Pete Vaughn
Robert E. Vaughan
Robert E. "Pete" Vaughan was the 22nd head footbal] coach for the Wabash College Little Giants located in Crawfordsville, Indiana and he held that position for twenty-seven seasons, from 1919 until 1945. His career coaching record at Wabash was 115 wins, 85 losses, and 24 ties...
and David Glascock
David Glascock
David A. Glascock is a former Head Basketball Coach. He was the Head Coach at Indiana State University from 1924–1927, and the 1932-33 season. His career collegiate record is: 33-32 ....
, with the 1906-07 Crawfordsville squad finishing 12-0 (prior to the first high school state tournament) and his 1907-08 Wabash team going 24-0. While at Wabash, his team was selected from only 300 students yet in five years lost only four games, twice to Notre Dame
Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Notre Dame's nickname is inherited from Irish immigrant soldiers who fought in the Civil War with the Union's Irish Brigade, , recollected among other places in the poetry of Joyce Kilmer who served with one of the Irish Brigade regiments during World War I...
and once to Purdue
Purdue Boilermakers
Boilermakers is the official nickname for the intercollegiate athletic teams of Purdue University. As is common with athletic nicknames, it is also used as colloquial designation of Purdue's students and alumni at large....
. During this successful run, Jones’ teams defeated much larger institutions such as, Illinois
Illinois Fighting Illini
The Fighting Illini are the intercollegiate athletic teams of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The University offers 10 men's and 11 women's varsity sports....
, Purdue, Indiana
Indiana Hoosiers
The Indiana Hoosiers are the athletic teams for the Bloomington campus of Indiana University . Athletic teams sponsored by IU Bloomington include cross country, track, baseball, golf, tennis, rowing, volleyball, soccer, football and basketball...
, Minnesota
Minnesota Golden Gophers
The Minnesota Golden Gophers are the college sports team for the University of Minnesota. The university fields both men's and women's teams in basketball, cross country, gymnastics, golf, ice hockey, swimming, tennis, and track and field. Men's-specific sports include baseball, football, and...
and Notre Dame. Known as the “Little Giants”, they would put together a record of 75 wins and 6 defeats. Amazingly, during the same five years of coaching Wabash College, Jones was also coaching Crawfordsville High School which lost only one game during that time.
Jones moved on to Purdue in 1910, beginning a three-year tenure that resulted in a 32-9 record and the first two Big Nine championships
Big Ten Conference Men's Basketball regular season champions
Big Ten Conference men's basketball regular season champions:-Championships by school:* Chicago withdrew from the conference in 1946.** Due to NCAA sanctions, Ohio State has vacated the records of 34 games in 1998-99, 16 games in ‘99-00 and the entire ‘00-01 and ‘01-02 seasons.-See also:* Big Ten...
in program history (1911 and 1912). He also mentored the first All-American in Purdue basketball history, as Dave Charters garnered consensus honors in both 1910 and 1911 under Jones' watch.
Illinois
After his three seasons in West Lafayette, Jones headed to Illinois, where he piloted the Illini to the 1915 Helms National Championship. During his tenure at Illinois, Jones took a mediocre team and within two years established a dominant system that led to a perfect 12-0 record in 1915 as well as the national championship. Jones' basketball teams at Illinois won 85 game and lost 34. He also won two Big Ten or Big Nine titles. Ralph also was the athletic directorAthletic director
An athletic director is an administrator at many American colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and related staff involved in intercollegiate or interscholastic athletic programs...
for two years as well as being the assistant football coach to Bob Zuppke from 1913 through 1920.
After Ralph left Illinois he went to Lake Forest Academy
Lake Forest Academy
Lake Forest Academy is a college preparatory boarding and day school for grades 9 through 12 located on the North Shore in Lake Forest, Illinois, United States. As of the 2008-2009 school year, students at Lake Forest Academy come from 20 states and 28 countries. The current Head of School is Dr....
in Lake Forest, Illinois
Lake Forest, Illinois
Lake Forest is an affluent city located in Lake County, Illinois, United States. The city is south of Waukegan along the shore of Lake Michigan, and is a part of the Chicago metropolitan area and the North Shore. Lake Forest was founded around Lake Forest College and was laid out as a town in...
. He was there for 10 years coaching both basketball and football. His football team won 76 games and lost only six games in his 10 years. His basketball teams had a 10-year record of 94 and 9.
Chicago Bears
After George HalasGeorge Halas
George Stanley Halas, Sr. , nicknamed "Papa Bear" and "Mr. Everything", was a player, coach, owner and pioneer in professional American football. He was the iconic longtime leader of the NFL's Chicago Bears...
retired as a player-coach
Player-coach
A player-coach, in sports, is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. The term can be used to refer to both players who serve as head coaches, or as assistant coaches....
in 1930, he hired Jones to take over his team in place of himself as head coach. Even though Jones led the team to a 24-10-7 record, due to the economic depression which was affecting every business across the United States, the financial health of the franchise began to suffer. With many people out of work, fewer and fewer individuals could pay for the cost of a ticket to attend a Bears game. Consequently, even though the team won the league championship in 1932, by the end of the season the franchise had lost approximately $18,000. Dutch Sternaman unloaded his half of the team ownership onto Halas, and Halas was forced not only to resume coaching the team in order to save the cost of a head coach's salary, but to pay many of the team's expenditures out of his own pocket. During his tenure, Jones lined the quarterback directly under center, the first time this had been done. Next, he spaced out the offensive line and devised blocking schemes that would open holes in the defense. He refined the T-formation
T formation
In American football, a T formation is a formation used by the offensive team in which three running backs line up in a row about five yards behind the quarterback, forming the shape of a "T"....
by introducing wide receiver
Wide receiver
A wide receiver is an offensive position in American and Canadian football, and is the key player in most of the passing plays. Only players in the backfield or the ends on the line are eligible to catch a forward pass. The two players who begin play at the ends of the offensive line are eligible...
s, tight end
Tight end
The tight end is a position in American football on the offense. The tight end is often seen as a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Like offensive linemen, they are usually lined up on the offensive line and are large enough to be...
s, and a halfback
Running back
A running back is a gridiron football position, who is typically lined up in the offensive backfield. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback for a rushing play, to catch passes from out of the backfield, and to block.There are usually one or two running...
in motion. Jones also introduced Bronko Nagurski
Bronko Nagurski
Bronislau "Bronko" Nagurski was a Canadian-born American football player. He was also a successful professional wrestler, recognized as a multiple-time world heavyweight champion.-Youth and collegiate career:...
as a member of the Chicago Bears.
During his time at Lake Forest Academy, Jones tinkered with simple options on the basic T-formation. Many coaches were searching for answers to an easy-to-teach formation that was also not easy to defend. Jones approached George Halas with various diagrammed options. Not until Clark Shaughnessy
Clark Shaughnessy
Clark Daniel Shaughnessy was an American football coach and innovator. He is sometimes called the "father of the T formation", although that system had previously been used as early as the 1880s. Shaughnessy did, however, modernize the obsolescent T formation to make it once again relevant in the...
, head coach at the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
, approached Halas with very complex formations in 1935 did the T become effective. Many coaches contributed to the success of the T-formation that swept college and pro football in 1940. Shaughnessy's Stanford University team
1940 Stanford Indians football team
The 1940 Stanford Indians football team, nicknamed the "Wow Boys", represented Stanford University in National Collegiate Athletic Association intercollegiate competition during the 1940 season. First-year head coach Clark Shaughnessy inherited a team that finished with a 1–7–1 record the previous...
went 10–0 and defeated the University of Nebraska in the Rose Bowl with his elaborate T-formation. Weeks later, Halas's Bears defeated the Washington Redskins
Washington Redskins
The Washington Redskins are a professional American football team and members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team plays at FedExField in Landover, Maryland, while its headquarters and training facility are at Redskin Park in Ashburn,...
73-0 with the same system. Jones left the Bears to become athletic director at Lake Forest College
Lake Forest College
Lake Forest College, founded in 1857, is a private liberal arts college in Lake Forest, Illinois. The college has 1,500 students representing 47 states and 78 countries....
in that Illinois town.
All told, Jones tallied 404 wins in his coaching career for a winning percentage of better than 83 percent. He also mentored nine college All-Americans.
Noted as a coach and mentor, the legendary Lambert dedicated his 1932 book, "Practical Basketball," to "Ralph Jones, my coach."
Also an innovator on the gridiron, Jones later coached the Chicago Bears to the 1932 NFL championship.
Basketball
| School | Season | Record | Conference Record | Place | Postseason |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Butler Butler Bulldogs All but one of Butler University's 19 intercollegiate teams compete in the Horizon League, along with Cleveland State, Detroit, Green Bay, Loyola, Milwaukee, UIC, Valparaiso, Wright State and Youngstown State... |
1903-04 | 2-2 | |||
| Butler | 1903-04 | 2-2 | - | - |
| School | Season | Record | Conference Record | Place | Postseason |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crawfordsville HS Crawfordsville Senior High School The Old Crawfordsville High School was a high school in Crawfordsville, Indiana in the United States. It was inducted into the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.... |
1904-05 | 1-0 | State Champions | ||
| Crawfordsville HS | 1905-06 | 4-0 | |||
| Crawfordsville HS | 1906-07 | 6-1 | |||
| Crawfordsville HS | 1907-08 | 8-0 | |||
| Crawfordsville HS | 1908-09 | 8-0 | |||
| Crawfordsville HS | 1904-09 | 27-1 | - | - |
| School | Season | Record | Conference Record | Place | Postseason |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wabash College Wabash Little Giants The Wabash Little Giants are the intercollegiate athletics teams that represent Wabash College, a small private school for men in Crawfordsville, Indiana. The university belongs to the National Collegiate Athletic Association and participates in Division III sports. The Little Giants compete as... |
1904-05 | 8-0 | |||
| Wabash College | 1905-06 | 17-1 | |||
| Wabash College | 1906-07 | 17-2 | |||
| Wabash College | 1907-08 | 24-0 | |||
| Wabash College | 1908-09 | 9-3 | |||
| Wabash College | 1904-09 | 75-6 | - | - |
| School | Season | Record | Conference Record | Place | Postseason |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Purdue | 1909-10 | 8-5 | 5-5 | 5th | |
| Purdue | 1910-11 | 12-4 | 8-4 | T1st | |
| Purdue | 1911-12 | 12-0 | 10-0 | 1st | Big Ten Champions |
| Purdue | 1909-12 | 32-9 | 23-9 | - |
| School | Season | Record | Conference Record | Place | Postseason |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Illinois | 1912-13 | 10-6 | 7-6 | 5th | |
| Illinois | 1913-14 | 9-4 | 7-3 | 3rd | |
| Illinois | 1914-15 | 16-0 | 12-0 | T1st | National Champions Helms Athletic Foundation The Helms Athletic Foundation was an athletic foundation based in Los Angeles, founded in 1936 by Bill Schroeder and Paul Helms. It put together a panel of experts to select National Champion teams and make All-America team selections in a number of college sports including football and basketball... |
| Illinois | 1915-16 | 13-3 | 9-3 | T2nd | |
| Illinois | 1916-17 | 13-3 | 10-2 | T1st | Big Ten Champions |
| Illinois | 1917-18 | 9-6 | 6-6 | T4th | |
| Illinois | 1918-19 | 6-8 | 5-7 | 5th | |
| Illinois | 1919-20 | 9-4 | 8-4 | 3rd | |
| Illinois | 1912-20 | 85-34 | 64-31 | - |
| School | Season | Record | Conference Record | Place | Postseason |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lake Forest Academy HS Lake Forest Academy Lake Forest Academy is a college preparatory boarding and day school for grades 9 through 12 located on the North Shore in Lake Forest, Illinois, United States. As of the 2008-2009 school year, students at Lake Forest Academy come from 20 states and 28 countries. The current Head of School is Dr.... |
1920-30 | 94-9 | |||
| Lake Forest Academy | 1920-30 | 94-9 | - | - |
Football
| Season | Team | League | Team | Regular season Regular season (NFL) The National Football League regular season begins the weekend after Labor Day. Each team plays 16 games during a 17-week period. Traditionally, the majority of each week's games are played on Sunday afternoon, with weekly games on Sunday night and Monday night, and occasional games on Thursday... |
Post Season NFL playoffs The National Football League playoffs are a single-elimination tournament held at the end of the regular season to determine the NFL champion. Six teams from each of the league's two conferences qualify for the playoffs based on regular season records, and a tie-breaking procedure exists in the... Results |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finish | W | L | T | |||||||
| 1930 1930 Chicago Bears season -Season Overview:The 1930 Chicago Bears season was their 11th regular season completed in the National Football League. The club posted a 9-4-1 record under first year head coach Ralph Jones. Jones, a former player, led the team to recover from its ninth place finish to a respectable third place... |
NFL | Chicago Bears Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League... |
3rd | 9 | 4 | 1 | ||||
| 1931 1931 Chicago Bears season -Season Overview:The 1931 Chicago Bears season was their 12th regular season completed in the National Football League. The club posted a 8-5 record under sophomore head coach Ralph Jones. The club finished in third place once again behind the Green Bay Packers and the Portsmouth Spartans... |
NFL | Chicago Bears Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League... |
3rd | 8 | 5 | 0 | ||||
| 1932 1932 Chicago Bears season -Season Overview:The 1932 Chicago Bears season was their 13th regular season completed in the National Football League. The club posted a 7-1-6 record under third year head coach Ralph Jones. The season started strangely with three consecutive 0-0 ties. After a 0-2 loss to the Packers, the Bears... |
NFL | Chicago Bears Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League... |
1st | 7 | 1 | 6 | Named NFL Champions | |||