Ralph Waldo Emerson Jones

Ralph Waldo Emerson Jones Sr. (August 6, 1905 – April 9, 1982), known as Prez Jones,

Grambling State University Charles P. Adams, the president of Grambling State University (GSU), interviewed all five members of the Southern University's 1925 graduating class and decided to hire one of Jones' classmates. However, he mixed up their names and hired Jones. Though Adams recognized his mistake after his arrival, Jones stayed and was assigned to teach chemistry, math, and biology. He formed the Grambling State Tigers baseball team and served as its head coach. Jones assumed the duties of the registrar and dean of men, and formed the GSU Tiger Marching Band. He gave up all of his duties at Grambling, except he remained the coach of the baseball team. He hired Eddie Robinson to become the football coach. Grambling State achieved university status in 1974. Jones retired as president in 1977. Jones died at Lincoln General Hospital in Ruston, Louisiana, on April 9, 1982, due to complications from gallstone surgery. Over 2,000 attended his memorial service at Grambling State, including Louisiana politicians Joe Waggonner, Alphonse Jackson, and Charles C. Barham. and a Doctor of Humane Letters from the University of Baltimore in 1977. He was inducted into the SWAC Hall of Fame in 1992 and the National College Baseball Hall of Fame in 2011. Grambling State inducted Jones into its Hall of Fame in the inaugural class in 2009 and renamed its baseball field after Jones and Wilbert Ellis in 2011.