Courtesy of ProRodeo
John W. Jones Sr., the 1970 world champion steer wrestler and a member of the inaugural class of the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in 1979, died Oct. 6 of an aortic aneurism. He was 81.
Jones of Morro Bay, Calif., excelled on ProRodeo’s biggest stage, winning the National Finals Rodeo’s average title three consecutive years and a record four times overall (1965, 1968-70).
At the 1970 NFR, he placed in six rounds and left no doubt he was the best in the world, winning his fourth average title by 15 seconds over runner-up Frank Shepperson.
Jones, who was inducted into the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City in 2000, might have won more world championships, but he didn’t like to travel and didn’t seriously pursue gold buckles.
As the first RCA Rookie of the Year in 1956 and a nine-time NFR qualifier, Jones Sr. inspired countless young steer wrestlers as a dedicated mentor. His son, John Jr., won three world championships and is also enshrined in the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs.
Jones Sr. and Jr. were the first father and son to win both the PRCA Rookie of the Year Award and a world championship.
Jones Sr. grew up on a ranch north of Fresno, Calif., and played baseball and football in high school before deciding to concentrate on rodeo.
Although raised around horses and cattle, he didn’t decide to rodeo full time until he became friends with the late Lex Connelly (also a ProRodeo Hall of Fame inductee).
“He wanted me to travel with him,” Jones Sr. once told the ProRodeo Sports News. “Were it not for him, I probably wouldn’t have rodeoed that much.”
During his career and after retiring from the sport, Jones Sr. worked the family ranch in Morro Bay, raising sugar peas and helping wife JoAnn run the family dairy.
Jones Sr. is survived by his wife, JoAnn; daughter, Sandra Eddleman, her husband, Dan, and daughter, Mattie; and son, John Jr., his wife, Sherrie, and their daughters, Katie and Shannon. Katie married New York Giants tight end Bear Pascoe on June 29, which was John and JoAnn’s 56th wedding anniversary, at the Jones Ranch.
John W. Jones Sr.