Paul J. Jones

Paul Jones

Jones cropped from 1902 Michigan team photo
Sport(s)	Football
Biographical details
Born	(1880-11-04)November 4, 1880 Youngstown, Ohio
Died	August 4, 1965(1965-08-04) (aged 84) Shaker Heights, Ohio
Alma mater	University of Michigan
Playing career
1901–1903	Michigan
Position(s)	Fullback
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1904–1905	Western Reserve
Head coaching record
Overall	10–5–3

Paul Jones (November 4, 1880 – August 4, 1965) was an American football player and coach and United States federal judge. He played fullback for the University of Michigan's national championship football team in 1902 and became the football coach at Western Reserve University after graduating from Michigan. He practiced law from 1905 to 1920 and served as an Ohio state court judge from 1920 to 1923. In 1923, he was appointed as a United States district court judge in Cleveland, a position he held until his death in 1965.

Jones was born in Youngstown, Ohio. He attended the University of Michigan where he studied law and also played football. Jones worked in a Youngstown boiler shop for five cents an hour during his summer vacations. He was the starting fullback on Fielding H. Yost's 1902 "Point-a-Minute" football team that finished the season 11–0 and outscored opponents 644 to 12. After the 1901 season, one account read "His work at fullback has been exceptionally good, and he is regarded as the most available man for that position next year." Jones was a popular player, and in October 1902 newspaper accounts reported that he led the students in singing the "varsity yell" at a "singing bee" preceding the football game against Wisconsin. Jones was six-feet tall and weighed 170 pounds as Michigan's fullback in 1902.

After being a starter on the 1902 Michigan Wolverines football team, Jones contracted typhoid fever and was unable to play in 1903. In March 1903, Jones left the university for a year to recuperate from the effects of typhoid fever.

Jones received an LL.B. from the University of Michigan Law School in 1904. Jones was admitted to the Ohio bar in 1904, but after graduating from Michigan, he was hired as the head football coach at Western Reserve University in Cleveland.