Life Without Father : Laguna Hills’ Jones Is County’s Top Rusher, but He Wishes His Dad Could Be Here to See It

It was another performance to cherish, yet Mike Jones knelt at the 15-yard line on the football field at Trabuco Hills last Thursday and wept softly after rushing on a bruised right foot for 197 yards, two touchdowns and a two-point conversion in his second varsity game.

On the heels of his 243-yard, two-touchdown debut two weeks ago, the effort was even more remarkable for Jones, Laguna Hills’ sophomore running back. It thrust him somewhat grudgingly into the spotlight as the county’s leading ground-gainer.

What should have been a moment of elation, though, brought the unassuming Jones to his knees. Old memories again danced in his head.

“I just wish my dad could’ve been there to see me,” Jones said.

Michael Jones Sr. died in a boating accident years ago while visiting family in Lake Charles, La. A strapping, handsome former Marine, Michael Jones was a strong, kind, loving man with a great love of football.

That has not been lost on his son, who was barely 3 years old when his father died. Mike Jones clings to memories of his father, and those memories have played a large part in his development.

But sometimes those memories haunt him. After his early-season successes Jones is finding that letting go, even after so many years, can be tough.

“I know he was upset last week,” said his mother, Martha Jones. “Every now and then he thinks of his father. He died when he was very young, and Michael remembers a lot about him. I think he really misses that one biological man he can go to.”

It’s not surprising to those who know him that Jones, who is expected to start Friday night in Lake Arrowhead against Rim of the World, would burst onto the county rushing scene so successfully. He was an integral part of the Hawks’ 1994 freshman team that was 10-0.

“It was pretty boring last year,” Jones said. “I usually only played about half a game because we were so far ahead.”

And then there are those athletic intangibles that some players have and others don’t.

“When I first met him [in junior high], I was a little intimidated by him,” said linebacker Anthony Daye, another sophomore on the varsity who calls Jones a close friend. “He was bigger and faster than anyone I had seen and he was real good.”

Jones, 6 feet 1 and 185 pounds, has always considered himself older than he is, finding it more palatable to hang with older friends, rather than kids his age.

“I’m sure that comes with not having a father,” Hawk Coach Steve Bresnahan said. “Kids in that situation probably have to assume the male dominate role that their fathers might take. He’s certainly more mature because of that situation.”

With maturity comes humility.

“He’s kind of a quiet guy,” Daye said of Jones, whose dreadlocks and swagger perhaps make him appear older than he is. “Sometimes it’s tough to get through to him, but once you do, he’s OK. You’d think he would tell you how good he is, but he doesn’t say a thing about himself, ever. He’s very laid back.”

Jones shares a two-bedroom apartment with his younger brother, Marchello, a freshman at Laguna Hills, and their mother.

Jones has always felt the pressure to be head of the household.

“It hit my mother hard,” Jones, said about his father’s death. “I have to watch out for my little brother, and my mom needs help. We are a close family.

“Do I feel pressure? Yeah, I try not to think about it.”

As a result, Jones has grown up faster than most boys his age.

“Maybe I have put a lot of responsibility on him and he has grown up a lot faster than he should have,” Martha Jones said. “Maybe I should have let him be a kid for a while. At least that’s what the family has told me. But there has been very little time for Mike to be a kid.”

The family survives on Social Security benefits derived from the death of Michael Jones. Martha insists that her sons attend school, get good grades and forget about getting jobs at this point. The future will take care of itself, she tells them.

“I say that his ability was a gift from God, something that will open doors for him for others things someday,” Martha said. “Due to the fact that we are financially strapped, maybe that gift will open a door to a college scholarship if he works for it.”

Martha said she chose not to work after her husband died because “he never wanted me to,” and her sons prefer to have her around. She is a regular at her sons’ games.

As a youngster Mike hit a fly ball in a T-ball game, but instead of running, he stood and watched the hit fly past the outfielders. Martha screamed at him to run, then jumped out of the stands and carried him around the bases.

“Michael’s mother is very supportive of him,” Bresnahan said.

After Jones’ performance last week, Bresnahan beamed and predicted that Jones would become the best running back in the history of Laguna Hills. At 30 rushes or so a game, a figure that Bresnahan regularly commands from his running backs, that could be true.