Paul “Bud” Jones
Nominated by Susan Fike Jones*
Paul "Bud" Jones was born in Springfield, Ohio 1932. His early life and schooling was in and around Springfield. In 1944, his family moved to Ashland which was and has been his home town ever since.
Golf and church league basketball were his early sport endeavors in Ashland,
In 1944, his freshman year JV basketball and baseball became his sport
interests while golf occupied his spare time and summers. In 1947-48 the dormant
high school golf program was re-activated so he switched to golf and
basketball.
In the fall of 2006, the 1949-50 Ashland High School basketball team
was inducted into the Ashland County Sports Hall of Fame. Along with Ray
Bates, a previous HOF inductee, he served as Co-captain of that team. He was
the leading scorer, earned the Most Valuable Player Award and was selected
to All-Ohio honors on all of the polls. That spring he was selected to play on
the All-Ohio All-Star team. The Ohio team played the Kentucky high school
All-Star team at a home game that summer.
Following high school graduation Paul entered the University of Michigan
where during his freshman and sophomore years he continued playing
on both the golf and basketball teams. During the summer of 1953 Paul entered
the U.S. Army for a two-year tour of duty, returning to Ashland in the
summer of 1955. During that summer, he married Sue Fikee, a 1953 graduate
of Ashland High School. From that marriage came four children, nine grand
children, and two great grand children. His family is scattered around the
world to this day.
Sue Jones passed away in September 2006, 10 days before their 51st wedding
anniversary. In July 2008 Paul married his new bride Susan. They moved to Fairfield Glade, Tennessee where they now enjoy retirement in a piece of
God's paradise.
Of Paul's years of employment, thirty in total, 1957 to 1987, 28 were spent
with the Shell Oil Company. He had many varied and enjoyable assignments.
Following retirement, 23 years ago, he has undertaken projects to keep busy,
and to give back to the community. One of the most pleasing was to serve as
a docent at Lander University in Greenwood, SC. One of his duties was as
a football coach for a school which did not have a football team. But that is
another story. However being a part of the athletic department kept him close
to competitive sports first hand, which as you can appreciate, was his long
time love.
Looking back at his life, the years spent in Ashland were both happy
and fulfilling. Ashland is a great community, a place, Paul still calls his home
town. Paul has moved 20 times, since college and he can not recall any place
where he has lived that honored former athletes such as the Ashland County
Sports Hall of Fame. It is great to be remembered after all of these years. He
congratulates you and thanks you for all of the time and effort spent for and
on behalf of such a wonderful and on going program.
