Ralph Waldo Emerson Jones
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Ralph Waldo Emerson Jones Sr. (August 6, 1905 – April 9, 1982), known as Prez Jones, was an American educator and administrator. He served as the second president of Grambling State University, a historically black university in
Grambling, Louisiana Grambling is a city in Lincoln Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 5,239 in 2020. The city is home to Grambling State University and is part of the Ruston micropolitan statistical area. Grambling was designated a "city" in ...
, from 1936 until 1977. He also coached the Grambling State Tigers baseball team, and was inducted into the
National College Baseball Hall of Fame The National College Baseball Hall of Fame is an institution operated by the College Baseball Foundation serving as the central point for the study of the history of college baseball in the United States. In partnership with the Southwest Collect ...
.


Early life and education

Jones was born in
Lake Charles, Louisiana Lake Charles is the List of municipalities in Louisiana, fifth-most populous city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, and the county seat, parish seat of Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana, Calcasieu Parish, located on Lake Charles (Louisiana), Lake Char ...
, on August 6, 1905. His grandfather was a slave and his father, John S. Jones, was the first dean of
Southern University Southern University and A&M College (Southern University, Southern, SUBR or SU) is a Public university, public historically black colleges and universities, historically black land-grant university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States. It i ...
, a historically black university in
Baton Rouge, Louisiana Baton Rouge ( ; , ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It had a population of 227,470 at the 2020 United States census, making it List of municipalities in Louisiana, Louisiana's second-m ...
. His mother owned all of the works of
Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, minister, abolitionism, abolitionist, and poet who led the Transcendentalism, Transcendentalist movement of th ...
, and named her son after the author. Jones earned his
bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...
from Southern University in 1925. He also earned a
master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...
from
Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
in mathematics.


Grambling State University

Charles P. Adams, the president of Grambling State University (GSU), interviewed all five members of the Southern University's 1925 graduating class and decided to hire one of Jones' classmates. However, he mixed up their names and hired Jones. Though Adams recognized his mistake after his arrival, Jones stayed and was assigned to teach chemistry, math, and biology. He formed the Grambling State Tigers baseball team and served as its
head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...
. He also formed the Grambling State Tigers football team and served as its first coach. Jones assumed the duties of the registrar and dean of men, and formed the GSU Tiger Marching Band. Jones also wrote Grambling State's '' alma mater''. Jones became president of Grambling State, then known as the Louisiana Negro Normal and Industrial Institute, in 1936. He gave up all of his duties at Grambling, except he remained the coach of the baseball team. The school had joined the
University of Louisiana System The University of Louisiana System (UL System) is a public university system in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It enrolls more students than the other three public university systems in the state; as of October 2023, it claims more than 91,500 st ...
in 1926, but did not receive financial support until 1932, and Jones continued to advocate for more money for the school. It transitioned into a four-year college in 1944, and Jones convinced the
Louisiana State Legislature The Louisiana State Legislature (; ) is the state legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is a bicameral legislature, body, comprising the lower house, the Louisiana House of Representatives with 105 ...
to change the name to Grambling State College. He hired Eddie Robinson to become the football coach. In 1970, the Louisiana Board of Education waived the mandatory retirement requirement at age 65 for Jones. Grambling State achieved university status in 1974. Jones retired as president in 1977. While he was president, the schools' faculty increased from 17 to 500 and the student body increased from 120 to 4,000. As the baseball coach, Jones had a win–loss record. He led the Tigers to six Midwest Athletic League championships between 1952 and 1958 and to five championships in the
Southwestern Athletic Conference The Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, which is made up of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the Southern United St ...
(SWAC) between 1961 and 1967. In 1967, Jones won the
National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for higher education, colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic schola ...
Coach of the Year Award. Players that he coached who reached
Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...
included Ralph Garr, Tommie Agee, Cleon Jones, and Johnny Jeter.


Personal life and honors

Jones was married and had two sons, Ralph Jr. and John Arthur. His wife, Mildred Shay Jones, died in 1953. Jones died at Lincoln General Hospital in
Ruston, Louisiana Ruston is a small city in and the parish seat of Lincoln Parish, Louisiana, United States. The 2020 population was 22,166. Ruston is near the eastern border of the Ark-La-Tex region and is the home of Louisiana Tech University. Ruston is the prin ...
, on April 9, 1982, due to complications from
gallstone A gallstone is a stone formed within the gallbladder from precipitated bile components. The term cholelithiasis may refer to the presence of gallstones or to any disease caused by gallstones, and choledocholithiasis refers to the presence of ...
surgery. Over 2,000 attended his memorial service at Grambling State, including Louisiana politicians Joe Waggonner, Alphonse Jackson, and Charles C. Barham. Jones received two honorary degrees: a Doctor of Laws from Louisiana Tech University in 1970 and a Doctor of Humane Letters from the University of Baltimore in 1977. He was inducted into the SWAC Hall of Fame in 1992 and the
National College Baseball Hall of Fame The National College Baseball Hall of Fame is an institution operated by the College Baseball Foundation serving as the central point for the study of the history of college baseball in the United States. In partnership with the Southwest Collect ...
in 2011. Grambling State inducted Jones into its Hall of Fame in the inaugural class in 2009 and renamed Ralph Waldo Emerson Jones Park and Wilbert Ellis Field, its baseball field after Jones and Wilbert Ellis in 2011.


See also

*List of longest serving higher education presidents in the United States


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Ralph Waldo Emerson 1905 births 1982 deaths 20th-century African-American educators 20th-century American educators 20th-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen African-American coaches of American football African-American baseball coaches Grambling State Tigers baseball coaches Grambling State Tigers football coaches Presidents of Grambling State University Sportspeople from Lake Charles, Louisiana Columbia University alumni Southern University alumni National College Baseball Hall of Fame inductees Sportspeople from Grambling, Louisiana 20th-century American academics Deaths from surgical complications