I called my good friend and former high school teammate George Stoudemire back in the late eighties to advise him that I had just been named the chairman of the brand new Lexington High School Athletic Hall of Fame committee.

Naturally, George asked me who appointed me and I had to admit… it was I. I was actually calling George to congratulate him on being chosen my co-chairman, which as the chair I felt I had the right to do.

I figured it was about time for Lexington High School to have an Athletic Hall of Fame. Since no one else felt the urge, I thought, why not? There were lots of deserving folks.

So I sat down and constructed a list of guidelines by which we would proceed with this process. Since I was the only committee member beside George, I wrote up the criteria and chose my first selection to be named to the Hall, retired coach J. W. Ingram. I couldn't go wrong with "Whiney."

Many wonderful selections have been made by other committee members over the years, but one of the most interesting choices was the late Jimmy "Crazylegs" Jones, who played ball in 1953. Bill Stillwell nominated "Crazy-Legs" to the Hall of Fame.

I was only four at the time, so I can't say I recall Jones but I know of him by reputation. "Crazylegs" had some pretty fair blockers in front of him in those days, one of which was the lanky Harry Harman, who later in life became the Lexington County Coroner in addition to being co-founder of Caughman-Harman Funeral Home. "When you made a block for Jones," said Harman, "you didn't have to make much of one. Just give him a slight crease and he was through it and gone".

Although things came easy for Jones on the football field, getting back and forth to practice was always difficult. Jimmy would wake up in the morning and ride the bus to school and stay on the school grounds for practice.

Without a way home, he would wait outside the courthouse and hope for a ride to Red Bank. Many days, Jimmy had to make the six-mile walk home. On home game days, his brothers and sisters would hang around after school to watch their brother Jimmy. Without a car in the family, Jimmy's mother never saw him play. Jones made the All-State team as a junior and again as a senior, an honor he shared with retired Athletic Director King Dixon of Laurens. As a High School All-American and Shrine Bowl participant, Jones led Lexington to an undefeated season and the state championship.

After high school, Jones married his wife, Judy, raised a family and became involved in church and community activities. He coached little league football and baseball teams.

Coach J.W. Ingram referred to Jones as a "one of the finest backs ever to play at Lexington." Ingram remembers 11 touchdowns off kickoff and punt returns.

Ingram recalls one of his fondest memories of Jones. "It was the come-from-behind victory against a tough Charleston team in 1953, when Lexington was down 13-0. Jimmy asked for the ball and sparked the team with a 98-yard touchdown run. And in the final quarter, he had a long run down to the Charleston two-yard line. On the next play, he punched it in for the winning touchdown."

As a senior, his personal yardage gained was greater than all Lexington opponents yards combined, save one. Jones scored 125 points accumulating 1,360 yards on only 138 carries. That is an average of almost 10 yards each time he touched the ball. In 1953, Jones totaled 1,861 all-purpose yards a compared to the opponents 861 all- purpose yards.

Versus Walterboro in 1953 in the last half-minute of play, Jones completed a 38 yard pass to set up the winning touchdown. Jones intercepted a pass and went the length of the field for a touchdown in a 41-0 whipping of Fort Mill in 1953.

In 1953 against Newberry, he gained an outstanding 264 yards rushing. He also caught a 24-yard pass reception, ran back a 90-yard punt return and scored three touchdowns of 60, 70 and 55 yards.

Jones scored the two key touchdowns to beat Winnsboro in 1953. The first score came on the first play of the game when Jones raced 60 yards for a touchdown. With only moments left in the game, he scored the second and tie-breaking 56-yard touchdown to preserve the undefeated season.

Jimmy Jones was also a very good basketball player at Lexington High School. A starter for three years, he never played on a losing team.

Jones was offered football scholarships to Maryland and Georgia and he actually spent three days on campus at the University of Georgia before becoming homesick for Red Bank, and returned home.