The Story And Significance Of Stan Jones - Seven Straight Pro Bowls At Offensive Guard

Stanley Paul Jones was an American football guard and defensive tackle who played in the National Football League for the Chicago Bears and the Washington Redskins. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1991. Jones is credited as the first professional player to use weight training to improve his conditioning for football.

Jones was drafted in the fifth round of the 1953 NFL Draft by the Chicago Bears and started in 1954 as an offensive tackle. In 1955, Jones switched to guard and, for the next eight seasons, was a fixture at that position and one of the NFL's most highly respected guards.

When the Bears needed help on defense in 1962, assistant coach George Allen decided that Jones could help at defensive tackle. He played both ways in 1962 and then switched to defensive tackle permanently in 1963.

After 1965, Bears coach George Halas agreed, as a favor to Jones, to trade him to the Washington Redskins so that he could play a final season near his home in Rockville, Maryland. He retired after the 1966 season.

Jones missed only two games his first 11 seasons, was an All-Pro guard in 1955, 1956, 1959, and 1960, and played in seven straight Pro Bowls following the 1955 through 1961 seasons. He has also been credited as the first professional player to use weight training for football conditioning.

After playing football, Jones became an assistant coach for the Denver Broncos, Buffalo Bills, Cleveland Browns, and the New England Patriots. He later went back to work, this time as a defensive line coach for the Scottish Claymores of NFL Europe.

During the mid-1950s Jones also worked in the off-season teaching physical education in the Montgomery County elementary schools.

Jones is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and College Football Hall of Fame. In 1977, he made the Atlantic Coast Conference 25-year team. Jones died on May 21, 2010, from complications of a stroke. He had a heart attack which triggered his death. Jones was also named to the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame.