Ralph Jones

Ralph Robert "Curley" Jones (September 22, 1880 – July 26, 1951) was an American high school and college football and basketball coach. He also served as the head coach for the Chicago Bears of the NFL from 1930 to 1932.

Early years

State of Indiana

Jones was an integral part of the development of high school basketball in Indiana and a successful college coach at Purdue and Illinois. He was the recipient of the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame's inaugural Centennial Award on November 27, 2010. It is believed that Jones was the first high school basketball coach in the state of Indiana. While still a high school student, he organized the team at Indianapolis Shortridge High School in 1899 — the first high school team in Indiana. Jones led the Indianapolis YMCA to statewide prominence, and then led the Crawfordsville YMCA, both of which claimed state YMCA championships under his guidance. Due to his success with YMCA-based leagues, Butler University contracted Jones to coach basketball for the 1903-04 season. This was the first "official" head coaching job in the long and successful career Jones would continue for the next 30 years.

Ralph Jones (GC)

Ralph Jones (26 September 1900 – 5 August 1944) was an English-born Australian soldier who was posthumously awarded the George Cross for the gallantry he showed when Japanese prisoners of war staged an escape attempt on 5 August 1944 in Cowra, New South Wales.

Early life

Jones was born at Gorleston, Norfolk, England and educated there until the age of 14. He served in the British Army at the end of World War I and in the army of occupation on the Rhine, Germany, until invalided home in April 1920. He emigrated to Australia about 1926.

World War II

On 15 January 1942, Jones was mobilised, and in February was posted to the prison camp at Cowra.

Cowra breakout

On 5 August 1944, the Japanese prisoners at the camp, armed with improvised knives and bats, stormed the guard posts with what a military court of inquiry termed "a suicidal disregard of life." Two hundred and thirty-one prisoners were killed during the ensuing fighting and 108 wounded. All of the escapees were recaptured within days. Jones was killed in the outbreak, as was Private Benjamin Gower Hardy, who was also awarded the George Cross. Private Charles Henry Shepherd was the third victim of the fighting at the camp, while Lieutenant Harry Doncaster was ambushed and killed while recapturing the escapees. The court of inquiry found that the Australian soldiers had ceased fire as soon as they had reestablished control of the camp, and that many of the dead had either killed themselves or been killed by fellow prisoners, while many of the wounded had self-inflicted injuries.