Mt. Lebanon’s Jones retires after 36 years
Mt. Lebanon athletics director John Grogan and assistant Russ Jones review paperwork regarding equipment and inventory. Jones (right) is retiring after 36 years with the district.
Russ Jones (left) with Dr. Freddie Fu, who serves as team physician for Mt. Lebanon High School in addition to his duties as chairman of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at UPMC and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. The two worked together for 30 years. Regarding the retirement of Jones, Dr. Fu said that the assistant athletics director was a bundle of energy. “Russ makes things happen,” Fu said. “I’m proud to know him. He’s the glue that held the sports complex together.”
Mt. Lebanon High School boys’ soccer coach Ron Wilcher chats with Russ Jones at his farewell party. Jones retires at the end of the month after 36 years of service to the district.
Russ Jones remembers Aug. 13, 1979, as if it were yesterday. The lifelong Mt. Lebanon resident embarked on his career as equipment and facilities manager at his alma mater. The position eventually morphed into the title as Mt. Lebanon assistant athletics director.
“That’s when I met Bob Schilken,” Jones said of the iconic Lebo lineman, who also starred at the University of Pittsburgh before becoming a renowned orthopaedic surgeon within the Allegheny Health Network. “He’d forgotten the reflective glasses he needed to play. His mother brought them. It was the first day of pre-season training camp for football.”
For 36 years, Jones assisted many other Mt. Lebanon student athletes, including Schilken’s own daughter. Meghan excelled on the Mt. Lebanon swim team, which finished runner-up in the WPIAL in 2014.
“Russ is Mt. Lebanon,” said aquatics coach Tom Donati, sporting a William and Mary T-shirt given to him by Meghan upon the completion of her freshman season for the Tribe. “When you think about what makes Mt. Lebanon run, you think of Russ Jones. He’s why people move to this community. He’s very, very positive. The kids know him and that’s special. And the coaches love him. He has a job everybody wants but nobody wants to do. And, he does it perfectly. He does what we coaches don’t want to be bothered doing.”
Beginning July 1, Jones won’t be doing anything but strolling the streets of his beloved neighborhood. An avid walker, he has retired from his position. During his career, Jones has assisted four athletics directors: Glenn Aston-Reese, legendary football coach Art Walker, Rich Relich and John Grogan.
“Russ is the epitome of what, in my mind, is good about Mt. Lebanon. He’s grown up here. Worked here,” said Grogan, who is Lebo’s longest-lasting AD, 15 years and counting. “He means the world to athletics and to Mt. Lebanon. Russ is someone who cares so deeply for Mt. Lebanon and its athletics. He’s a really great guy. Super person. The type of people you want in your program. Everything he does is for the participants and for the betterment of the programs. He does everything to present the positive side of things.”
At age 26, things weren’t so positive for Jones. He was working for a catalogue store in Bridgeville, making little use of the journalism degree he had earned from Duquesne University in 1975.
“I was lost,” said Jones, who graduated from Mt. Lebanon in 1971. “I did not know what I wanted to do. When they created this job, I applied. The pay was less, but I had benefits.”
While the major perk was enrolling in the Public School Employees’ Retirement System, affording him a life of leisure at age 62, Jones enjoyed advantages of long, hard hours of labor during his working years. He weathered trying times the first day on the job.
“The first day of football camp is always the hardest day of the year, but that first day I’ll remember forever. I didn’t know anything about fixing helmets and everybody and their mother wanted something.”
The initial years proved challenging for Jones because the district, at the time, was the only school that featured an artificial playing surface for its field. In addition to Carnegie Mellon University, Chartiers Valley, Seton-La Salle and Central Catholic were among the high schools that rented Mt. Lebanon Stadium. Additionally, the WPIAL used the site for playoff games.
Since CV and Lebo competed in the Western Conference, when the Colts played their home game with their host, the Blue Devils were deemed the visitors. “It was odd,” said Jones, who had to make the proper preparations for uniforms, the field and scoreboard. “Weird,” he added of being the guests on their home field. “Our fans and our team had to be on the visitor’s side, the other side of the field, opposite the press box.”
Frustrating were the few losses and conflict scheduling during Jones’ early years as assistant AD. Between 1979 and 1984, Lebo won four WPIAL championships.
“The 1979 team was a great one with John Frank,” Jones said of the tight end that excelled at Ohio State and then for the Super Bowl San Francisco 49ers before becoming a doctor. Gateway upset Lebo, 16-0, in what was dubbed the “Mud Bowl” at Dormont Stadium. The Gators went on to play Penn Hills in what Jones called the “best WPIAL championship game” and featured NFL standouts Bill Fralic and Tom Flynn. “The 1980 and 1981 teams were the best we ever had,” Jones said of the back-to-back champions that featured Schilken, Mark Hart, Chris Jelic and the Aldisert twins, Caesar and Richard, to name a few. “I’ll never forget when we were at Pitt Stadium playing Gateway in 1981 and they had just announced that our boys’ soccer team had just won the state title.”
Most of his early highlights surrounded football, but Jones recalled the 1997 girls’ state championship volleyball team coached by Dawn Begor. “Boy could they play,” he said and noted how the Blue Devils also won WPIAL titles in 2000 and 2001. “Those were some terrific kids.”
The 1980’s also featured some of Jones’s favorite clubs. In 1989, led by Vee Hightower, the Blue Devils won the WPIAL soccer title and competed in the PIAA finals. Later in the winter, Hightower, who played baseball in the Chicago Cubs’ organization, led the basketball team to the state finals. Jones also recalled having to miss some events such as the Blue Devils’ 1987 semifinal WPIAL football playoff against Woodland Hills because Mt. Lebanon was the site for the North Hills vs. North Allegheny contest. He remembers a time, too, when the Tigers played afternoon games on Saturdays because they lacked lights at Carl Neuman Stadium in Wexford. In 1991, the Blue Devils knocked off the No. 1-ranked Tigers under Paul Kmec.
“It was hard when we played somewhere and I had to be at Mt. Lebanon because we hosted so many games. Plus, in the fall, there was always something going on.”
Saturdays were the longest days. They went long into the night. Jones would arrive as early as 7 a.m. because there would have a JV football or freshman game followed by a field hockey game and sometimes as many as four soccer games. Sunday was the only day off.
“It wasn’t just equipment, it was handling season ticket sales, opening concession stands and booths, but that all came with the territory,” Jones added without complaint. “Summers are the easiest. There is nothing like June. After the Fourth of July, everybody starts thinking football. Like at any other school, August is always a bear.”
As a youth or as an adult, winter brought no rest for Jones. During his teen years, he wrestled for Mt. Lebanon. His father, Dick, assisted the legendary George Lamprinakos in coaching 13 state champions, including Olympic gold medalist Kurt Angle, and 33 WPIAL winners. As a grappler, Jones is part of Lebo’s storied history, which also includes 22 section and seven WPIAL team championships.
“When you think of Russ, you can’t help but think of his dad, Dick Jones. He was ahead of his time regarding training,” said Ron Schreiner, who coached the girls’ cross country team until his retirement last fall. “He was a special, caring person and Russ is in the same mold.
“As many years as I have known Russ, he’ll be remembered as one that was so respected, calm and amazing to work with. He always had everything worked out. The facilities and their availability. Once we went to the wrong field and Russ was able to straighten everything out for us,” continued Schreiner. “He was everyone’s friend. Not just the major sports. He understood what everybody needed. This was his life. The kids were first with him and so were the coaches.”
When Bill Lewis arrived in 1994 to coach the wrestling team and teach social studies at the high school, Jones was one of the first people he met in the athletic department. As a wrestler who won a WPIAL title and finished as a state runner-up, Lewis found Jones engaging.
“I loved talking to him. He knows so much about the good old days of wrestling at Mt. Lebanon. The stories he tells from the Lamprinakos/Jones years are awesome. He can tell you the line-ups from the 1969 and 1972 teams. His memory is so uncanny.”
So is his loyalty. According to Lewis, Jones always attended home wrestling matches, even opened up the concession stands. “Whether directing teams to the locker room, checking on the refs and making sure they had hot water for their showers so they could get cleaned up when they were done, Russ was there,” Lewis said. “He was good to us over the years.
“The thing I’ll miss most about him are our talks about wrestling and Lebo sports, the lure and the laurels,” Lewis continued. “He’s been here so long. He represents what Lebo stands for. The pride in the program. The standards of excellence. He bridges the gap between the past and the present.”
His presence in the athletic office will surely be missed. “No. 1,” said Grogan, “I’ll miss how dependable Russ was. He has that rare quality. You never had to worry about what he was doing. You knew he was doing what he was supposed to do.”
More than that, Grogan said he will miss the friendship he has forged over the 15 years with Jones. In fact, Grogan laughed and said that during his term as AD, he has seen Jones more than his wife. “We are friends,” he noted. “More than anything, I’m going to miss those conversations.”
The two shared a passion for Pitt football and would quip how Pitt would break their hearts again each football season. After a long day at the office or a field site, the pair shared meals. “I’ll miss eating hoagies with Russ on Friday nights,” Grogan said.
All of Mt. Lebanon will miss Jones, said Lebo football skipper Mike Melnyk. “Irreplaceable,” he said. “His retirement leaves a huge hole.”
Jo Folino agreed. She worked in the athletic office as a secretary for 15 years and noted how Jones was an easy-going person who was willing to help in a pinch and always had a smile on his face. The two often worked behind the scenes putting the special touches on sports banquets, working with caterers, ordering flowers, picking up the cake and setting up.
“He did so many, many things and helped everybody. We will miss him and he will miss Lebo. This was a huge part of his life. He lived here,” Folino emphasized. “He opened up the place, kept the equipment and uniforms in great shape. There’s a lot that goes on that people don’t see or know about and he took care of all of it.”
According to Mike Agostinelli, Jones certainly took care of more than just the boys’ cross country team. In fact, Agostinelli knew Jones as a student, when he attended his driver’s education course. Agostinelli noted Jones’ work ethic and his success on the mats. “As a student, he always worked hard and as a wrestler, he was one of the good ones.
“Russ bleeds ‘Blue N Gold’ and no matter what was going on, he gave fully of himself to the institution. This institution is going to miss him,” said Agostinelli, then noted how Jones prepared the stadium for graduation. “Russ always made sure the equipment worked. He wrote definitive lists and inventoried everything. He was the staple in the athletic department.
“In his position, he met kids, adults and coaches from our school as well as other schools. He touched everybody and they all had good things, great things to say about him and the job he performed. It was a job well done.”