El Camino Real People : You’ll Hear Nothing but Praise for Joneses

Keeping up with the Joneses is not an easy job.

Just ask Marvin Jones, father to two exceptional children and husband to a splendid wife--all of them living under one roof on Heavenly Court.

By night, the Joneses live in harmony on Heavenly.

By day, mother Karen, a popular English teacher and student advisor, son Marvin Jr. and daughter Tami--scholars, student leaders, standout athletes--set high standards for Jones followers at El Camino Real High.

Marvin Sr., popular teacher, successful coach, goes to work at El Camino Real’s rival campus: Taft.

After 16 years of dedicating his work to other people’s children, he must now juggle his schedule daily so he can zip across town in the afternoon to join Karen in watching Marvin Jr. play baseball or Tami play softball.

Marvin Sr. knows if he can’t keep up, he’ll be left out.

“Once they’re gone, you can’t turn back the clock,” he said.

Said Karen, “He feels left out sometimes.”

Who wouldn’t?

Marvin Jr., a senior, is a two-sport letterman who became his school’s first African American student-body president last fall. He carries a 3.77 grade-point average and has already been accepted by seven universities and has yet to hear from Harvard, Princeton and Cornell.

Tami, a junior, is a three-sport letter winner who is El Camino Real’s director of social activities. She carries a 3.80 GPA and was one of 10 members of the Los Angeles County Young Black Scholars to visit Stanford on a recent academic recruiting trip.

Their athletic achievements are just as impressive.

Marvin Jr. played on a Conquistadore baseball team that won the 1994 City Section 4-A championship. In the 7-6 victory over Chatsworth at Dodger Stadium, Marvin Jr., the designated hitter, singled and scored in a five-run first inning.

Now playing left field, he carries a .350 batting average, has four doubles and a home run.

Tami played shortstop on an El Camino Real softball team that won the City 4-A championship game last year, 4-0 over San Pedro.

With the graduation of Times Valley pitcher of the year Jennifer Gould, Tami took a crash course in pitching during the off-season and has a 10-1 record, including a no-hitter, and an 0.19 earned-run average through 75 innings.

She also carries a .482 average as the team’s leadoff hitter, with nine doubles and 19 runs scored.

Marvin tried to get a teaching job at El Camino Real, too, when the couple moved to the Valley in the late 1970s, but there was no position available in his subject area: business. Marvin Sr. has not even considered taking a sabbatical from his tennis coaching.

Why?

His Taft teams are powerhouses, the boys having lost the City 4-A final each of the past two seasons, his girls having reached the 4-A final in each of the past seven seasons, winning two of the past three titles.

“The tennis program over at Taft is wonderful and I’m working with great kids,” he said. “It broke my heart that I couldn’t see Marvin and Tami more last year. But leaving tennis? I couldn’t do that.”

This year Marvin Sr. sees Tami play nearly every game--leaving practice early--because City 4-A softball plays conference games on Monday and Wednesday, while tennis plays on Tuesday and Thursday.

Tennis and baseball schedules conflict. But Marvin Sr. has changed dates with El Camino Real and Chatsworth so that he and Marvin Jr. are playing at the same place at the same time. On other occasions, Taft Athletic Director Brenda Creed has supervised Toreador matches to allow father to watch son.

Karen, however, is virtually a constant companion.

“I’m in my mom’s (advanced composition) class now, which is interesting,” Marvin Jr. said. “There’s eye contact and smiles, and things like that.”

Many of Tami’s friends have told her they would not like to see their mothers at school every day.

“But I like it,” she said. “My mom is well liked. She cares about (other students) and she’s interested in what they do.”

El Camino Real baseball Coach Mike Maio calls the Joneses a “class foursome,” and gives credit to the parents for molding their children into role models.

“The kids are intelligent, hard working and involved in a lot of activities,” Maio said. “The parents are non-intruding people. Just because they work (as teachers), they don’t expect anything more than anyone else.”

Nearly everything has gone according to plan, say Marvin Sr. and Karen, since they married nearly 25 years ago. Life is nearly ideal.

“It seems like a real Ozzie and Harriet kind of situation, but it was planned and it’s happening,” Karen said. “We have a little house in the suburbs with a pool and cars and the van. We are living the dreams we had as young people at 46 and 47 years old.”

Marvin and Karen were both raised by working parents in Compton. The two met during Karen’s senior at Regina Caeli High and Marvin’s freshman year at Long Beach State.

“We dated, and from the very beginning we both had the same goals--which was to become teachers so that we would have the time to spend with our kids,” Karen said.

“It was the best move we could have made.”

Marvin Jr. started playing soccer at age 5, while Tami, at 3, started 10 years of dance lessons in ballet, tap and jazz. She later fell in love with soccer and softball. This year Tami added volleyball and basketball, where she was an all-league guard who averaged 20 points a game.

Marvin Jr. played varsity tennis as a freshman before switching to baseball. In basketball last season, he averaged 12.2 points and seven rebounds.

As the Jones kids took up different sports as children, Marvin Sr. coached and Karen led cheers and acted as team mother.

On the playing field, Tami seems to have taken her mom’s personality, which is seemingly more vocal and aggressive than the Jones men. She’s 5 feet 6, powerfully built and draws attention--whether it’s the pitching circle or on the bench.

“You probably would consider her the MVP,” Karen said.

The similarities between Marvin Sr. and Marvin Jr. are striking. Both wear glasses and pull the bills of their baseball caps low. Marvin, who stands 6 feet, is lanky like his father and moves with the same quiet intensity.

“Marvin has my personality,” Marvin Sr. said. “He’s the type of person who lets his performance speak for itself.”

There is no competition between Marvin Jr. and Tami, but a lot of respect and support for one another. Ironically, as much as they see each other on campus, they share their father’s dilemma.

They rarely see each other play.

“Once in a blue moon I get to see her during the week,” Marvin Jr. said. “I really love to see her play. She’s a great athlete.

“I was always considered the athlete in the family. Now she’s slowing taking that away from me. But it’s great. I hope she gets a scholarship next year.”

Tami is not eager to take such status from her brother, who could probably play baseball in a small college program.

“I don’t think I’m surpassing Marvin,” she said. “Guy sports are a lot more competitive than girl sports. There are a lot more outstanding male athletes.”

The Jones parents are delighted. In fact, life on Heavenly Court would probably be perfect if Marvin Sr. had a job at El Camino Real.

But then again, this scenario would be impossible without him.