Stars to Shine for Shrine Hospital

When Larry Jones was selected to play in the 34th annual Shrine All-Star Football Classic, he said he thought at first “it was not that important.”

Jones, a 6-3 1/2, 245-pound All-City linebacker from Hamilton High School, said that when he set out with other all-star players from the North team to tour the Shriners Hospital for Crippled Children, “I felt I wasn’t really up to another game.”

After the tour, however, he experienced a change in attitude. “Looking in the eyes of those kids (at the hospital) or writing on their casts was really good for me,” he said. “It boosted my spirits.”

At a North squad practice and photo day at Cal State Northridge, Jones said he hopes to be at his best for the Shrine game, a benefit that has raised more than $2 million through the years for the hospital. This year’s game will start at 7 p.m. Saturday at East Los Angeles College’s Weingart Stadium in Monterey Park.

Jones, one of only a few players who were twice named to The Times’ All-Westside high school first team, said he has another strong reason for wanting to play well Saturday night.

He said he used to live in the neighborhood near Fremont High School, sometimes hangs out in that area, and wants to demonstrate that they play tough football at Hamilton High. Last season Coach Dave Lertzman’s Yankees finished the year with a 7-2-1 record, reportedly the best in the school history, and Jones said he wants to show his old buddies that the Hamilton team’s performance was no fluke.

When he goes to his former neighborhood, he said, his friends kid him, saying, “Where is Hamilton, in the (San Fernando) Valley or in Hollywood?” Jones, the only Westside player selected for the Shrine game this year, said he wants to make an impression with his performance Saturday night.

At 245 pounds, Jones has added about 15 pounds this summer, so South team ball carriers he tackles in the Shrine game should know they’ve been hit. He said he put on the weight through intensive weight training and some equally serious chowing down at his summer job at a restaurant.

Recruited by such colleges as USC, Washington, New Mexico State, Texas El Paso and Cal State Long Beach, Jones said he decided to accept a scholarship to the University of Hawaii because he “felt they had a pretty nice program, where I wouldn’t have to rush myself and there was not much partying at the school.”

He said he plans to major in business management and that he will not play football during his freshman year so he can concentrate on his studies. He said he was encouraged to redshirt his first year by the example of former Hamilton teammate Robert Walker, a defensive back and a Hawaii freshman last year.

Walker sat out the football season last year and got top grades, he said. Jones said he would like to emulate Walker and that he will be “pushing a lot in academics. I wanted to go far away to college so there would be fewer distractions and I could hit the books. If I get hurt (in football), I want something to bounce back on.”

After hitting the books and becoming a stronger student, Jones, said he hopes to begin bouncing around a few backs and receivers while playing linebacker for the Rainbows. He also played defensive end and offensive guard for Hamilton and Hawaii coaches have told him that they would like him to become a defensive lineman.

But he said he would like to continue at linebacker, where he feels more at home. “I’m quick enough (said to run 40 yards in 4.9 seconds) and big enough.

If I work on my quickness and get my speed down, I can play linebacker. I was a receiver when I was starting out in the 10th grade at Hamilton, so I might like to be a tight end. But I’ll play anywhere; I’d play center if they want me to.”

Jones, who also was a shot putter in track and field and a strong rebounder for the Hamilton High basketball team, said that, if possible, he would also like to play basketball for Hawaii.

But he said he will concentrate on football in college, hoping that he can someday have a career in the National Football League, save some money and go into the restaurant franchise business.

His first sport, he said, was baseball, and he played youth baseball until he was a sophomore at Hamilton. “Everybody said I was big and that I should play football, so I went out for it.”

He said he began football practice as “a fifth-stringer” as a sophomore but wound up as a starter in the team’s first game. “I had my heart set on playing and getting bigger, and I was always high spirited. But I was very surprised when I became a starter by the first game.”

He made quick progress, however, setting school career records for unassisted tackles, assists and recovered fumbles. Coach Lertzman said that Jones was “a crushing blocker on offense and a devastating tackler on defense.” He also handled kickoff chores for Hamilton, booting the ball so high and deep most of the the time that would-be kickoff returners had to settle for would be.

Jones said he realizes that not everyone can play football in the NFL, but he feels confident that he is big enough, strong enough and quick enough to play pro ball. “All I have to do is keep my faith in God, and I’ll make it,” he said.