Five years ago, the women’s track and field program’s head coach passed away after a long battle with cancer. In his 15 years as head coach at Florida, Tom Jones’ teams won six Southeastern Conference titles in addition to having 15 top-10 finishes at the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships.
This Saturday, Florida will once again pay tribute to the late coach in the fifth annual Tom Jones Memorial Classic.
“[It’s] another opportunity to compete at home in front of our home crowd, but always excited about a chance to honor coach Jones, who meant so much to this program from a lot of standpoints,” coach Mike Holloway said.
Not only was Jones a mentor to the athletes he coached, but he also influenced some of Holloway’s teaching methods.
“He also helped me understand that every athlete is different. You don’t train everybody exactly the same,” Holloway said. “Sometimes we as coaches get caught up in ‘… This is the way I train and either you fit it or you’re out of here.’ I think that in order to be a successful track and field coach, you have to understand that each athlete has their own different quirks.”
When Holloway took over the program on June 19, 2007, he wanted to find a way to honor Jones for all the things he brought to the program and all the athletes he helped during his time with the Gators. On Jan. 26, 2008, Florida hosted its first meet in memory of Jones.
“I don’t want anybody to forget what he did here,” Holloway said. Although most of the athletes currently competing for Florida weren’t here when Jones was the coach for the women, a lot of his former athletes come back to compete in this race according to Holloway.
“I think it’s good for them to be able to come back and compete in something that’s honoring coach Jones,” Holloway said.
The Gators have had a lot of success in the meet winning 36 events over the last four years. This year, sophomore Stipe Zunic hopes to add another win after coming in second place last year.
The javelin thrower has gone three for three in winning his event this outdoor season. His best performance came at the Texas Relays where he threw a personal record of 255 feet, 6 inches.
The meet will open with field events starting at noon, and will continue until about 8 p.m. when it will wrap up with the men and women’s 4x400 relays.
“[Jones] was a great friend, a great mentor and he was a great leader for the women’s program,” Holloway said. “We definitely want to have great performances this weekend in honor of him.”
