Tad Jones (American football)
{{Short description|American football player and coach (1887–1957)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox college coach
| name = Tad Jones
| image = 1903 Tad Jones.jpg
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1887|2|22}}
| birth_place = Excello, Ohio, U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1957|6|19|1887|2|22}}
| death_place = Hamden, Connecticut, U.S.
| alma_mater =
| player_years1 = 1905–1907
| player_team1 = Yale
| player_positions = Quarterback
| coach_years1 = 1908
| coach_team1 = Yale (assistant)
| coach_years2 = 1909–1910
| coach_team2 = Syracuse
| coach_years3 = 1916–1917
| coach_team3 = Yale
| coach_years4 = 1920–1927
| coach_team4 = Yale
| overall_record = 69–24–6 (college)
| bowl_record =
| tournament_record =
| championships =
As coach:
As player:
- National (1907)
| awards =
- Consensus All-American (1907)
- Second-team All-American (1906)
| coaching_records =
| CFBHOF_year = 1958
| CFBHOF_id = 1394
}}
Thomas Albert Dwight "Tad" Jones (February 22, 1887 – June 19, 1957) was an American college football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Syracuse University (1909–1910) and Yale University (1916–1917, 1920–1927), compiling a career head coaching record of 69–24–6.{{#tag:ref|Though official Yale records credit the 1917 season to Jones, Thomas G. Bergin explains in his book, The Game: The Harvard-Yale Football Rivalry, 1875-1983, that the 1917 season was informal, with the team led by Arthur Brides and trainer Johnny Mack. The 1917 team had a 3–0 record.{{cite book |title=The Game: The Harvard-Yale Football Rivalry, 1875-1983 |last=Bergin |first=Thomas Goddard |author-link=Thomas G. Bergin |year=1984 |publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven and London |isbn=0-300-03267-6 }}|group="n"|name="coachingrecord"}} He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1958.
Jones quarterbacked Yale to 6–0 and 12–0 victories versus Harvard as a junior and senior, respectively, in 1906 and 1907. Yale finished with 9–0–1 records both years, and he was named an All-American both seasons. As head coach, Jones led Yale football to a 5–3–1 record versus Harvard, and gave the most revered pregame pep talk in Yale athletic history before the Harvard–Yale game in 1923. Before that contest Jones intoned famously, "Gentlemen, you are about to play football against Harvard. Never again may you do something so important."{{cite news |title=Ivy Title And Pride On Line in The Game |first=William N. |last=Wallace |newspaper=The New York Times |date=November 18, 1989 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/11/18/sports/college-football-ivy-title-and-pride-on-line-in-the-game.html |access-date=July 30, 2010}} Yale won 13–0, with Babe Ruth providing broadcast commentary. Ducky Pond returned a Harvard fumble sixty-three yards for a touchdown. Bill Mallory kicked the extra point and two field goals.The Game, p. 145. The Yale team was 8-0 for the season.The Game, p. 141
Family and honors
Jones's older brother was Howard Jones, who also played at Yale from 1905 to 1907. The elder Jones also coached at Yale and Syracuse, as well as Ohio State University, the University of Iowa, Duke University, and the University of Southern California.
The "T.A.D. Jones" room at the gymnasium of Phillips Exeter Academy, where he taught, is named for Jones.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uxVKAQAAMAAJ&q=exeter+T.+A.+Dwight+Jones&pg=PA512|title=The Yale Alumni Weekly|date=1913|language=en}}
Head coaching record
=College=
{{CFB Yearly Record Start | type = coach | team = | conf = | bowl = | poll = no}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subhead
| name = Syracuse Orangemen
| conf = Independent
| startyear = 1909
| endyear = 1910
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year = 1909
| name = Syracuse
| overall = 4–5–1
| conference =
| confstanding =
| bowlname =
| bowloutcome =
| bcsbowl =
| ranking = no
| ranking2 = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year = 1910
| name = Syracuse
| overall = 5–4–1
| conference =
| confstanding =
| bowlname =
| bowloutcome =
| bcsbowl =
| ranking = no
| ranking2 = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subtotal
| name = Syracuse
| overall = 9–9–2
| confrecord =
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subhead
| name = Yale Bulldogs
| conf = Independent
| startyear = 1916
| endyear = 1917
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year = 1916
| name = Yale
| overall = 8–1
| conference =
| confstanding =
| bowlname =
| bowloutcome =
| bcsbowl =
| ranking = no
| ranking2 = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year = 1917
| name = Yale
| conference =
| confstanding =
| bowlname =
| bowloutcome =
| bcsbowl =
| ranking = no
| ranking2 = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subhead
| name = Yale Bulldogs
| conf = Independent
| startyear = 1920
| endyear = 1927
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year = 1920
| name = Yale
| overall = 5–3
| conference =
| confstanding =
| bowlname =
| bowloutcome =
| bcsbowl =
| ranking = no
| ranking2 = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year = 1921
| name = Yale
| overall = 8–1
| conference =
| confstanding =
| bowlname =
| bowloutcome =
| bcsbowl =
| ranking = no
| ranking2 = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year = 1922
| name = Yale
| overall = 6–3–1
| conference =
| confstanding =
| bowlname =
| bowloutcome =
| bcsbowl =
| ranking = no
| ranking2 = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year = 1923
| name = Yale
| overall = 8–0
| conference =
| confstanding =
| bowlname =
| bowloutcome =
| bcsbowl =
| ranking = no
| ranking2 = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year = 1924
| name = Yale
| overall = 6–0–2
| conference =
| confstanding =
| bowlname =
| bowloutcome =
| bcsbowl =
| ranking = no
| ranking2 = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year = 1925
| name = Yale
| overall = 5–2–1
| conference =
| confstanding =
| bowlname =
| bowloutcome =
| bcsbowl =
| ranking = no
| ranking2 = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year = 1926
| name = Yale
| overall = 4–4
| conference =
| confstanding =
| bowlname =
| bowloutcome =
| bcsbowl =
| ranking = no
| ranking2 = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship = national
| year = 1927
| name = Yale
| overall = 7–1
| conference =
| confstanding =
| bowlname =
| bowloutcome =
| bcsbowl =
| ranking = no
| ranking2 = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subtotal
| name = Yale
| confrecord =
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record End
| bowls = no
| poll = no
| polltype =
| legend = no
}}
Notes
{{Reflist|group="n"}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{College Football HoF|1394}}
{{Yale Bulldogs quarterback navbox}}
{{Syracuse Orange football coach navbox}}
{{Yale Bulldogs football coach navbox}}
{{Navboxes
| title = Tad Jones—championships, awards, and honors
| list1 =
{{1905 Yale Bulldogs football navbox}}
{{1906 Yale Bulldogs football navbox}}
{{1907 Yale Bulldogs football navbox}}
{{1927 Yale Bulldogs football navbox}}
{{1907 College Football Consensus All-Americans}}
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Tad}}
Category:All-American college football players
Category:Yale Bulldogs baseball players
Category:Yale Bulldogs football players
Category:Yale Bulldogs football coaches
Category:Syracuse Orange football coaches
Category:Phillips Exeter Academy faculty
Category:College Football Hall of Fame inductees
Category:Phillips Exeter Academy alumni
Category:Players of American football from Butler County, Ohio