(Oct. 17, 1942 – Nov. 25, 2017) Steve Jones earned his place in Oregon sports lore as a basketball player at the high school, college and professional level and then as a broadcaster, where he earned the nickname “Snapper.”
Born in Louisiana, Jones grew up in Portland and helped Franklin High to the 1959 state title. He moved to Eugene and played forward at Oregon from 1961-64. He scored a school record 37 points in one game 1963 and was the teams leading scorer for the season. Steve was named team MVP as a junior and senior, when he was also named 1st-team All-Conference. He played every game of his college career.
Jones reached the pro level three years later, when the American Basketball Association began play. He signed with the Oakland Oaks in 1967 and played eight years in the league, earning an All-Star nod three times. He played in six other cities following his rookie year in Oakland and averaged 16.0 points per game. Steve never had a technical foul called on him. His best seasons were back-to-back with the New Orleans Buccaneers and Memphis Pros in 1970 and ’71, averaging 21.5 and 22.1 points for game.
Jones finally moved to the NBA for the 1975-76 season when he signed with the Portland Trail Blazers at age 33.
Jones played just one season in Portland before retiring and becoming a color commentator for Blazers games as well as regularly handling the same duties for games broadcast nationally on CBS. Jones continued working as a color commentator for networks that carried NBA games and was part of the broadcast team that covered “The Dream Team” at the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympic Games. His games working side-by-side with Bill Walton were always entertaining, no matter how good the game itself was.
“Snapper” is a member of the PIL Hall of Fame and the University of Oregon Athletics Hall of Fame.
