James “Casey” Jones is the only Union football player to ever be named to the Associated Press Little All-American first team. He was selected to the first team in 1941 and was the only repeat selection on the 1942 team. The 6’1 175 pound Florence, Alabama native starred in the annual North South Football All-Star game played after his senior season in Montgomery, Alabama.
Jones heroics led Coach Fred Delay’s bulldogs to their finest seasons ever. As a junior he ran back a punt for 93 yards against Southeastern Conference Champion Mississippi State. It was first time any player had crossed the State goal line that season. Their previous three games had included Alabama, LSU and Florida. He totaled 82 total points his junior year making him one of the top scoring backs in the south.
The two time Union Captain led the Bulldogs to a Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship his senior year. The Bulldogs were undefeated in conference play losing only to Mississippi State and Vanderbilt. After the Vanderbilt game Commodores coach Red Sanders said, “Jones was the best back we saw the entire year”.
After a great game against Memphis State, Memphis Commercial Appeal sports columnist Walter Stewart wrote, “Harried members of the Memphis State football team say that Casey Jones, the Union University back, is the smoothest dasher they have met all season – that he is more elusive than a ghost 10 minutes before sunrise and harder to hit than a six horse parlay”. The longest run of his career was 103 yards against Mississippi College.
In a story in the Cardinal and Cream about Jones, repeating as an Associate Press Little All-American the writer said this about Jones, “The cleated Ghost of Death Valley stalks, in the dream of the coeds and the nightmares of the football players upon nearly every small college campus from the sultry Mississippi Delta to the chilly Kentucky Mountains”.
Jones had one of his finest games against Western Kentucky his senior season when he rushed for 108 yards in ten carries and also passed for 75 yards. The triple threat back also punted for a 49 yard average in the game.
Jones was named to the Who’s Who in Colleges and Universities in 1942 and also served as the president of the “U Club”.
