HOMETOWN LIVING AT I TS BEST 17
home to teach at their alma mater. (Lyons High School was
renamed Lyons Senior High School in 1971 and changed
again in 1987 to Toombs County High School.) Ms. Betty
taught French a couple of years and 11th and 12th grade
Language Arts for the remaining of her teaching career.
Coach Jones took a position as an assistant football coach
and baseball coach and taught Georgia History for one year
as well. Two years later, he also took the position as head
girls’ basketball coach.
In 1966, Ms. Betty and Coach Jones became a family
of four with the birth of their twin daughters, Jo(Anna)
and Jill(Anna), known as Jo and Jill. The next few years
were busy for the Jones family. Ms. Betty would go back to
college for her Master’s, and in 1969, Coach Jones would
become Athletic Director and head football coach. All the
while, he continued to serve as head baseball coach and
head coach of girls’ basketball.
The year 1975 will always be remembered as the year
Lyons High School won the football state championship.
Once again, Coach Jones turned the focus from himself
to others. “Earl Rodgers was my assistant coach, and the
B-team coach was Billy Merritt,” he said. “Coach Callaway
was very instrumental in starting these boys out in middle
school.” (Coach Callaway would lead the middle school
Bullpups through ten undefeated seasons between 1971
and 1982 including a sixty-one-game winning streak.)
The seniors on that state winning team included Tim
Mimbs (also Outstanding Lineman of the Year), Eugene
“Cornbread” Corbitt, Ricky Bowen, Joe Roberts, Dale Smith,
Tim Galbreath, Randy Michael, Phil Humphrey, Mark
Adams, and Mark Rhoden. The opposing team was Duluth
High School, and the final score was 20 to 12.
“They had George Rogers on that team,” said Coach
Jones. “He went on to play for the University of South
Carolina and won the Heisman Trophy in 1980. He was
good, too. He was very good.”
After ten years as head football coach, Coach Jones
said, “My girls were in high school, and I felt it was time to
take a break.” He continued to serve as Athlete Director,
head girls’ basketball coach and an assistant football coach.
But in 1985, four years and three head football coaches
later, Coach Jones resumed the position as head football
coach for two more years. He spent his last two years before
retirement coaching girls’ basketball.
REMEMBERING THE
SACRIFICE...
A story on the contributions Coach Jones and Ms.
Betty have made in this community would not be
complete without including at least a portion of
his brother’s service and sacrifice. Coach Jones’s younger
brother Barry was also an exceptional football player.