Remembering Calvin Jones

It was really sad to learn of the untimely passing of Calvin Jones. I first met Calvin along with John Manna around 2007. John and Calvin were involved in coaching Jr. Mavs and working at Playsmart, a youth mentoring program, Playmakers youth program and were business partners in Forever A Husker. Both were regulars at our pre-game tailgates.

John Manna and Calvin Jones | Credit: John Manna

Calvin's single-game rushing record was beaten by Roy Helu against Missouri in Lincoln on Oct. 30, 2010. I made a decision that day to give up my game ticket and remain at the tailgate to have that experience. Calvin was at the same tailgate and we watched as Roy kept getting closer and closer to Calvin's record. When the record was broken Calvin's cell phone blew up with calls and text messages.

Here is the writeup on HuskerMax's Missouri game page:

Roy Helu Jr. raced untouched on a trio long touchdown runs on his way to a school-record 307 yards to power No. 14 Nebraska to a 31-17 victory over No. 7 Missouri.

The senior I-back electrified the crowd with a 66-yard scoring sprint on NU’s first play from scrimmage. Eleven minutes later, he unleashed a career-long 73-yard burst to push Nebraska to a 24-0 first-quarter lead. He added a 53-yard scoring run in the third quarter while carrying the offensive load in the second half in the absence of quarterback Taylor Martinez, who left the game with an injury.

It was Nebraska’s second straight victory over an unbeaten, top-15 team. It was also the Huskers’ first win over a top-10 team during the Bo Pelini era.

Helu’s huge day eclipsed the previous Nebraska rushing mark set by Calvin Jones with 294 yards against Kansas in 1991.

Here is the HuskerMax summary of that Kansas game:

Things couldn’t have looked much darker for 11th-rated (AP) Nebraska than they did early in the second quarter at Kansas’ Memorial Stadium. The Cornhuskers trailed the upstart Jayhawks, 17-0, and star I-back Derek Brown had just gone to the bench for good because of blurred vision.

But then along came Jones.

Redshirt freshman I-back Calvin Jones charged off the bench to rewrite the Nebraska and Big Eight record books and ignite the Huskers to a 59-23 victory that kept them unbeaten in the Big Eight at 4-0-1 and raised their season record to 7-1-1. When it was over, Jones had rushed for a Nebraska record of 294 yards on 27 carries, and scored a Big Eight-record six touchdowns for another record of 36 points ‐ all in less than three quarters of play.

Jones broke the old NU rushing record of 285 by Mike Rozier against Kansas in 1983, and tied the school record for touchdowns in a game originally done by Bill Chaloupka against Doane in 1907 and tied by Harvey Rathbone against Peru State and Haskell in 1911. In those days, touchdowns counted only five points, so Jones’ 36 points were a school record.

Jones’ six TDs broke the modern-day Big Eight record of five. The Husker rookie also had a 4-yard pass reception, giving him 298 all-purpose yards, breaking the old NU record of 289 by Rick Berns vs. Missouri in 1978.

Jones scored on runs of 3, 47, 9, 1, 68 and 12 yards, and it was his third TD, with 8:46 left in the third quarter that finally put NU ahead, 24-23. His final TD made it 45-23 with 10:41 left in the game and boosted his rushing total to 276 yards. He returned for the next series, alternating with No. 3 I-back George Achola. He carried once for 8 yards, then lost 2, before breaking the record with a 6-yard run up the middle and adding another 6-yard gain just to make sure.

The performance was all the more remarkable because KU went into the game ranked 14th nationally in total defense at 284 yards per game.

NOTES: Jones’ 294 yards were the second-most ever for a freshman in NCAA history … For a school-record third straight game, Nebraska did not have a turnover … The loss dropped Kansas to 2-3 in the Big Eight, 5-4 overall … It was the Huskers’ 23rd straight win over the Jayhawks.

Quote of the game: “We don’t normally make concessions to records, but this was special. We wanted to make sure he got it.” – Nebraska Coach Tom Osborne

I knew that beating a record that was around for 19 years was a historic event in the Husker record books. At the time I was wearing the black and red leather Husker jacket that I started getting autographs on beginning with the USC tailgate in Los Angeles in 2007. It has a lot of autographs from the 1970 and '71 teams, the '94, '95 and '97 teams, and all three Heisman winners.

I asked Calvin to sign it and put the date on it to make it unique. He signed it Calvin Jones 44 - 90-93 - 10/30/10. Next to Calvin's signature is Bill Janssen, who is also no longer with us.

Calvin Jones autograph on 10/30/10 when his record was beaten by Roy Helu. — Calvin Jones' autograph on 10/30/10 when his record was beaten by Roy Helu. | Credit: David Max

The jacket hangs in a closet because I don't want the signatures to rub off. Maybe I should break it out and start wearing it again. It is tough saying goodbye to the Calvins and Bills of the world but also comforting to know that they are in a better place where I hope to be able to join them once again in that skybox in the sky.

Rest in peace, my friend. You will be missed but not forgotten.

Related: Paul Koch did a two-part interview of Calvin for his book Anatomy of an Era about Husker football. Here is part one, part two. and part three.