NAME: Tom Jones
UNIVERSITY: UBC
CATEGORY: Student-Athlete
SPORT: Men’s Volleyball
YEARS ACTIVE: 1974-1977
HIGHLIGHTS:
1976 CIAU champion
1977 CIAU silver medalist
Back-to-Back Canada West champion in 1976 and 1977
Member of the 1984 Canadian Olympic team
BIOGRAPHY:
Tom Jones was a pivotal figure for the UBC men’s volleyball program during its mid-70s heyday.
A versatile competitor who played both the hitting and setting positions, Jones helped the team win back-to-back Canada West titles in 1976 and 1977, while capturing the CIAU championship in 1976 and winning silver at nationals in 1977.
He was a Big Block winner at UBC who studied in Science and graduated in 1979,
In 1977, Jones was selected to the Canadian national team, and went on to play more than 250 international matches, competing in 4 FISU Games, 2 Pan American Games, 2 World Championships, and the Olympics. With Team Canada, he won silver at the 1983 FISU Games in Edmonton and bronze from the 1979 Pan American Games. In 1984, he became one of just a handful of UBC volleyball alumni to compete in the Summer Games, when he co-captained Canada to its best-ever Olympic result, placing fourth in Los Angeles.
Jones went on play professionally in Italy and France, where he led his teams to the French National Championship and the European Cup.
Following his playing career, Jones held a number of positions in sport management, including: Manager of Athlete Development with the Province of British Columbia, Executive Director with Victoria State Volleyball in Australia, Technical Operations Manager for Volleyball at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, Chief Executive Officer of Athletes Canada and Chief Executive Officer for Commonwealth Games Canada. Jones also served in a variety of capacities with Volleyball Canada including a term on the Board of Directors and Chair of the National Teams Committee.
Jones has previously been inducted as an individual into the Volleyball Canada Hall of Fame (2010) and UBC Sports Hall of Fame (2012).