Dub Jones

Halfback for the Cleveland Browns who tied the NFL single-game touchdown record with six.

William Augustus "Dub" Jones (December 29, 1924 – November 2, 2024) was an American professional football player who was a halfback for ten seasons in the National Football League (NFL) and the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) in the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily for the Cleveland Browns. He shares the NFL record for touchdowns scored in a single game, with six.

Quick Facts

Position: Back
Born: 29 December 1924
Birthplace: Arcadia, Louisiana, U.S.
Died: 2 November 2024
Place of death: Ruston, Louisiana, U.S.
High school: Ruston
College: LSU (1942), Tulane (1943-1944)
Draft year: 1946

Lore & Background

Jones was born into an athletic family in Louisiana and played a variety of sports, including football, at his high school in Ruston. The team won the state championship in 1941, his senior year. He attended Louisiana State University on a scholarship for a year before being transferred to Tulane University in New Orleans as part of a World War II–era U.S. Navy training program. He played college football for the Tulane Green Wave for two seasons before joining the Miami Seahawks of the new AAFC in 1946. The Seahawks traded Jones at the end of the 1946 season to the AAFC's Brooklyn Dodgers, who subsequently sent him to the Browns before the 1948 season. That year, the Browns won all of their games and the AAFC championship. The team repeated as champions in 1949, but the AAFC dissolved at the end of the year and the Browns joined the NFL. A tall flanker back and a running and receiving threat, he was a key part of Browns teams that won NFL championships in 1950, 1954 and 1955. He was twice named to the Pro Bowl, the NFL's all-star game, including in 1951, when he set his touchdown record. Jones retired after the 1955 season, but returned to the Browns as an assistant coach in 1963. The Browns won the NFL championship the following year. He left football for good in 1968 and went back to Ruston, where he worked with one of his sons in a general contracting business. He is a member of the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and the Greater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame.

Reader's Guide

Jones was selected by the Chicago Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL) with the second pick in the 1946 NFL draft, but did not sign with the team as he pondered returning to LSU to finish his studies. When the Miami Seahawks of the new All-America Football Conference (AAFC) offered him a $12,000 contract, he accepted it and joined the team. The Seahawks won just three games in 1946, the AAFC's first season of play, and Jones was traded along with two other players to the Brooklyn Dodgers, another AAFC team, in December. The Seahawks, meanwhile, folded and were moved to Baltimore after the season because of poor attendance and shaky finances. Jones played sparingly for the Dodgers in the last three games of the 1946 season, rushing for 62 yards on 19 carries. The Dodgers traded for Jones in part to replace Glenn Dobbs – a star tailback in Brooklyn's single-wing offense – because Dobbs was suffering from injuries. He too was hurt early in the 1947 season, hit by Bill Willis of the Cleveland Browns. Injuries to his knee, hip and clavicle forced him to sit out for several weeks. He broke his hand when he returned and had to play exclusively on defense for the rest of the season. Paul Brown, the head coach of the Browns, was impressed with Jones's defensive play for Brooklyn, and traded away the rights to University of Michigan star Bob Chappuis to acquire him in June 1948. Jones began his career with the Browns as a defensive back, but was switched to halfback early in the 1948 season because his performance on defense wasn't up to Brown's standards. Jones played on offense alongside Graham, the team's quarterback, and star fullback Marion Motley as the Browns won all of their games in 1948 and beat the Buffalo Bills for their third straight AAFC championship. He ended the year with 149 rushing yards on 33 carries. Over the next two seasons, Jones developed into a star flanker, a position he helped invent. He was both a running threat and a receiver – his tall stature was well-suited to receiving – and helped complement a passing attack that featured the Browns' two main ends, Dante Lavelli and Mac Speedie. Jones often went in motion behind the line of scrimmage before the snap at a time when few players did so, causing confusion and mismatches on defense.