Tommy Jones has enjoyed an exceptional 30 plus year career as a participant in and a coach of the sports of track and field and cross country. His many accomplishments have earned him a spot in the Fannin County Sports Hall of Fame class of 2019.
As a junior high youngster at East Fannin, Tommy did not have a great deal of size but he did compete in basketball and football, while running on his own or for the Fannin Recreation Department track team. He says that he decided to become a coach during this period, in large part due to his respect for Jeff Quinton, his coach at East Fannin.
Tommy’s first taste of glory came in 1986 when he won the age 15 and under mile run event at Georgia Recreation and Parks Association track meet. Tommy was a freshman at Fannin County High School which had neither a cross country nor track and field program at the time. So Tommy ran for the Fannin Recreation Department track team and picked up his first big championship.
A couple of significant events occurred as Tommy entered Fannin County High School for his sophomore season in the autumn of 1986. First, the powers that be at Fannin County High School decided to sponsor the school’s first track and field team, providing Tommy with an opportunity to compete and develop his running skills. Second, he met Bill Franklin, a member of the Fannin County Sports Hall of Fame and a special education teacher in the Fannin School System at that time. Bill was the first outstanding distance runner in the county at West Fannin High School. He went on to earn a track and field scholarship at the University of Georgia where his coach was the legendary Olympic champion, Spec Towns.
Billy became aware of Tommy’s running skills and Tommy says that he received his first meaningful coaching guidance with Bill Franklin as his mentor. Prior to meeting Franklin, Jones says that his strategy was simply to run a mile ‘as fast as I could’. Bill Franklin provided a more structured scientific regimen to preparation and actual race competition that resulted in a gradual and consistent improvement in Tommy’s race times. Bill became a part-time assistant on the Rebel track and field squad during Tommy’s 10th and 11th grade seasons. A new coaching regime arrived in 1988 and Bill was not retained as an assistant, but Tommy Jones had learned a great deal about running from him during those two years.
Tommy Jones also played basketball at Fannin High and was a starter during his last two seasons. His game improved and peaked during the last half of his senior season. He was named as the team’s outstanding player for that period by the Northwest Georgia Tip-Off Club.
In track and field, Tommy competed primarily in the mile and 800 meter run events. During his three years of competition in the 800 meter event, he finished third at the Region 8AA event twice and won the Region championship as a senior. In the mile run, he finished 2nd in the Region once and finished as high as 5th in the state meet. Fannin County High sponsored a Cross Country team for the first time in 1988-89 and Tommy finished 8th in the Region in that sport. He was named as the team MVP in Track and Field as a senior. He continues to hold school records in the 800 meters and mile run events.
After graduation from Fannin County High, Tommy Jones was awarded a Cross Country and Track and Field scholarship to Baptist College (now Charleston Southern University) in Charleston, South Carolina. He stayed there for two years and was named as captain of both the Cross Country and Track and Field teams during his second season. He was named as the Cross Country MVP as a sophomore. His accomplishments were many at Charleston but the highlights were winning the Southern Conference Championship and the South Carolina state championshi0p in the 3000 meters and being a member of the Southern Conference 4 x 400 Relay championship team.
Tommy loves the mountains of North Georgia and decided to transfer to North Georgia College as a junior. He also has strong ties to the school as both his father and grandfather studied there. So, in 1992, Tommy headed to Dahlonega where he was awarded the first Cross Country scholarship in the history of the school. North Georgia did not have a Track and Field team. He finished 11th in the Conference Cross Country meet and was named to the NAIA All-Conference team in 1992. He was elected team captain in 1993. He graduated from North Georgia with a degree in Physical Education in 1993.
Tommy’s goal was to enter the coaching profession after college, but no opportunities in the North Georgia area were available immediately after his graduation. It took a while but he landed a job with the Gilmer County school system in 1999. Since that time he has held a number of teaching and coaching positions. He is currently the head coach of the Gilmer County High School Cross Country team, coach of the Clear Creek Middle School Track and Field team and teaches five class each day at Gilmer High.
Tommy continues to compete and has run hundreds of road races including the Peachtree Road Race more than ten times. His victories are too numerous to list but some include the Morganton Point Hill Run 5K eight times, Ellijay Run for the Son 5K ten times, the Sorghum Festival 5K in Blairsville and the Hot Biscuit 5K in Jasper. His proudest achievement was qualifying for and running in the Boston Marathon in 2014, the year after the bombing incident at that prestigious event.
Tommy and his wife Shelynda make their home in Ellijay, Georgia. They have three children, Tori age 21, Nick age 16 and Belle age 8.
