Deacon Jones 1938 – 2013

A Lee Payne-painted Deacon Jones electric football figure. The brass master shadowing Mr. Jones is the father of ALL the Tudor tackles ever produced.

Electric football was and is a game that fuels our imaginations. One of the players who added fuel to electric football was Deacon Jones. When you got your set of Rams, one of the first numbers you ever put on a player was no. 75.

It was so easy in electric football to “see” your Rams’ Deacon Jones streaking into backfield and leveling either the quarterback or the running back for a significant loss. Deacon’s persona was larger than life – and so were his achievements. There is a legitimate argument that he may be the NFL’s all-time sack leader (sacks statistics weren’t kept until 1982).

He’s also one of those players who marks time for us. Our memories of him are so clear, even now, that’s it’s hard to believe that someone so larger than life and so enduring is gone. Has it really been 40 years since those amazing days…

To one of the NFL’s true All-Time greats, Deacon Jones.

 

Earl & Roddy

Comments

Deacon Jones 1938 – 2013 — 3 Comments

  1. Deacon Jones is one of my all-time favorite players. You are right on numbering the electric football players. As soon as I got my Los Angeles Rams in my 620 set with the light blue end zones I put number 75 right on that tackle figure. He happened to be just as good in electric football as he was in real life too! I think his energy carried over! The nice thing about this wonderful hobby of ours is that Deacon Jones lives on and never retires!

  2. DEACON JONES along with merlin olsen and roman gabriel were my first 3 favorite players and RAMS were my favorite team when i first starting watching football in the 1960’s…..what a GREAT PLAYER he was .

    • He made his mark in so many ways. He even kicked an extra point in his final game (for the Redskins). And there’s a great NFL Films segment on him with Chargers, where he’s trying to get the younger players to do what they’re supposed to. True old school player.