Zeke Jones elected as Distinguished Member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame
1/6/2005
Gary Abbott/USA Wrestling
World champion and Olympic silver medalist Zeke Jones, who now resides in Morgantown, W.Va., has been elected as a Distinguished Member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.
Jones was one of the most talented lightweight freestyle wrestlers in U.S. history, competing on seven U.S. World and Olympic teams at 52 kg/114.5 lbs. between 1989-1997. He had a wide-open, high scoring style of wrestling which was exciting to watch and very effective.
His biggest individual achievement came in 1991, when he defeated superstar Valentin Jordanov of Bulgaria in the gold medal finals on his home mats in Varna, Bulgaria to become the World Champion. Jones and Rick Sanders are the only Americans to ever win a World title at that weight class.
At the 1992 Olympic Games, Jones had a tremendous run to a silver medal, qualifying for the gold-medal finals where he was edged by North Korea’s Li-Hak Son. He was one of six American freestyle wrestlers to win a medal at the Barcelona Olympics. He won his third World-level medal with a bronze in the 1995 World Championships.
Between 1993-95, Jones retained the No. 1 spot in the U.S. at his division. He competed on two U.S. teams that won the World Team Title, the 1993 World Team in Toronto, Canada and the 1995 World Team in Atlanta, Ga. He was named Most Technical Wrestler at the 1995 World Championships. He was fourth in the 1990 and 1993 World Championships, and seventh in the 1989 World Championships.
Jones won many of the major events in the sport, with gold medals at the World Cup, the Pan American Games and the Goodwill Games. He captured six U.S. Nationals titles and six World Team Trials titles. Although he was unable to qualify for the 1996 U.S. Olympic team, he came back and made the 1997 U.S. World Team for his final appearance at the World level.
Jones made his first U.S. World team while he was still a student at Arizona State. He won three All-American honors under coach Bobby Douglas, and as a senior, he was the NCAA runner-up at 118 pounds. He was a member of the Arizona State team that won the 1988 NCAA Div. I team title. He went to ASU after an impressive high school career, where he was a state champion for Ann Arbor Huron High in Michigan and a multiple placewinner at the Junior Nationals.
Since retirement as an athlete, he has become an excellent coach. He served as an assistant college coach at Arizona State and Bloomsburg, before landing his current assistant coaching position at the Univ. of West Virginia. Jones has also become a talented freestyle coach, leading a number of U.S. teams on international tours. This included the 2001 U.S. World Team, the 2003 Pan American Games Team and the 1999 World Cup team.
In 2004, Jones was an Olympic Coach in freestyle, leading our U.S. team at Athens Olympic Games to three medals, including a gold medal by Cael Sanderson. He is a club coach with the Sunkist Kids, and is also coach and founder of the Sunkist Kids National Training Center at West Virginia Univ.
Note: On Tuesday, Chris Campbell was announced as a Distinguished Member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, as well. TheMat.com will be announcing one inductee each day this week.
Wrestling Gear
