Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

CFL Personnel Director Featured Speaker At PHS Football Banquet

Paul Jones will be the featured speaker at the Prescott Football Banquet Feb. 5.

Jones is the director of player personnel for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League. He is also the special assistant to the team's general manager.

Jones began is football career as a recruiter for Northwest Mississippi Junior College in 1981, working his way through the ranks of professional football.

In 1982-83, he founded, and was majority owner, of Southern Sports Agency. It was here Jones began his career of evaluating football talent and putting athletes to work in the pros.

By 1987, Jones' agency had more contracts with rookie free agents in the National Football League than any other agency. In '88, Southern Sports Agency set the record for representing the most small college players who were picked in the NFL draft.

Jones accepted his current position in 1990. The Bombers are a perennial power in the CFL.

Since 1990, the Bombers have compiled a 60-30 record, including three divisional titles, two division runner-up spots, three Grey Cup appearances and one Grey Cup championship. The Grey Cup is Canada's equivalent to America's Super Bowl.

Over the past 15 years, the Bombers trail only the San Francisco 49ers, the Edmonton Eskimos, the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers in winning percentages posted by a professional sports franchise.

During his career in pro sports, Jones has personally negotiated more than 2,000 football contracts and evaluated more than 10,000 players in the college and pro ranks.

The banquet will be held at 6:30 p.m. in the Prescott Elementary School cafetorium.

The 1995 AA State Champions will be honored as a team and individual award winners will be recognized.

Along with Jones, the program will feature video highlights from the championship season.