Amboy’s Jones to be honored by the IHSFCA

An ignored phone call turned into something very much appreciated by recently retired Amboy High School football coach Gary Jones.

Jones, who wrapped up his 26th and final season guiding the Clippers with a win against AFC on Oct. 25, is included in the 2020 Illinois High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame class. He will be formally recognized on Saturday, March 28 in Champaign as part of the IHSFCA coaching clinic.

Jones received word on Tuesday morning via voicemail, after ignoring his initial call from the hall on Monday night.

“If I’m home on a Monday night and I don’t recognize the phone number, I’m not going to answer it,” Jones said. “That’s just the way I am. On Tuesday morning, I see that I’ve got a voicemail, and it turns out it’s a guy from the IHSFCA. It was a shocker. Usually you don’t get this type of thing until you’ve been out for a couple of years.”

Jones, a 1972 Amboy graduate, began teaching and coaching at his alma mater in 1976 after graduating from Eureka College.

He was the defensive coordinator under Don Wyzgowski from 1976 through 1993, a period when the Clippers went 125-55 and was highlighted by a Class 2A state championship in 1984.

Jones took over as head coach in 1994 and led Amboy to a 134-126 record and 12 playoff appearances. He is the winningest football coach in AHS history, surpassing Wyzgowski by three victories.

Jones was nominated for the IHSFCA Hall of Fame by Greg King and George Schwamberger, players who helped the Clippers to back-to-back runner-up finishes at state in 1979-80. King is the Athletic Director at Sterling, Schwamberger is the AD at Amboy, and both are currently assistant coaches at their schools. King, the former head coach at Sterling, is a 2019 IHSFCA hall of famer.

“This is a great honor,” said Jones, who will retire at the end of the school year as a teacher after 43 years, “and honestly, it’s something I didn’t expect to happen. To be joining people like Don Wyzgowski and [Newman coach] Mike Papoccia and all these other great coaches, it’s just a great honor.”

• Kevin Crandall, who retired as Rochelle football coach at the end of the 2017 season, will receive the IHSFCA’s Ray Elliot Award. It was an award created in 1978 to “bring recognition to a person who we believe is deserving for his contributions to the furtherance of sportsmanship, the quality of the game, and the advancement of athletics in Illinois. ... The other criteria to be considered but not limited to are: positive impact on the community or in the school where one coached; contributions and dedication to the advancement of football in Illinois.”

Crandall led Rochelle to a 160-96 record from 1994-2017, with 18 playoff appearances in 24 seasons. He is a past president and currently the executive director of the IHSFCA.