San Jose native and Super Bowl Champion James Jones has his high school's field dedicated in his name
SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- Bay Area native James Jones made an impact every time he stepped on the football field.
He was a three-sport athlete at Gunderson High School in San Jose, he won the 2006 New Mexico Bowl MVP with San Jose State and took home the Super Bowl 45 crown as a member of the Green Bay Packers.
Now, his name is forever immortalized at his alma mater.
"There's a lot of great football players and a lot of great students that touched this football field," Jones said. "Yet, I'm the one standing up here. It's just humbling. It's one heck of an honor. I drove the 87 freeway a long time and now I get to look down and say, 'look at my field'. It's crazy."
Jones is one of the most successful football players to come from San Jose and Gunderson High School.
Fans were able to follow his career from high school to San Jose State where he led the Spartans to a bowl victory in 2006 and countless big wins including the last win over Bay Area rival Stanford.
He was drafted in the third round of the NFL Draft by the Green Bay Packers where he became a favorite target of Aaron Rodgers during their run to Super Bowl 45 against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
After stints on four NFL teams, including the Oakland Raiders, Jones retired and joined the NFL Network as an analyst.
He is the success story that people in San Jose can strive to be like and it's the reason the Gunderson football field will forever dawn the name "James D. Jones Field".
"The biggest reason that we're doing this is because he does so much for the community and for Gunderson," Gunderson Varsity Football Head Coach Sal Munoz said. "He's somebody that the kids can strive to be. He's somebody that they can say, 'hey, he went to Gunderson. If he can do it, we can do it'. He can show these kids that the world is bigger than San Jose, football can open doors, sports can open doors and the more they do and better they do in the classroom, the farther they can go in life."
Jones spoke in front of a packed stadium full of his family, former teammates and other Grizzlies fans.
He hopes his story can inspire the Grizzlies of tomorrow.
He believes they can succeed as long as they follow one simple rule.
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"One thing my coach always told me was no matter what your circumstances are, where you're at or how you're living, he always told me that hard work always wins," Jones said. "If you keep grinding and working hard, good things will happen to you. That's what I continue to do and I'm here strictly off of hard work."
Of all the accomplishments over the course of his career, Jones said that this one is at the top of his list.
Congratulations, James Jones, on this well-deserved honor!
