Posted by | Cyrena Rose
Legendary football player David ‘Deacon‘ Jones died Monday evening at his home in Southern California. He was 74. Reports are that he died of natural causes. The Pro Football Hall of Famer earned the nickname the ‘Secretary of Defense’ during 14 years in the NFL.
Credited with coining the phrase “sacking the quarterback“, Jones was also credited with perfecting the old defensive move termed the “head slap,” which was outlawed by the NFL. It is the name of his biography, “Headslap: The Life and Times of Deacon Jones.”
Jones was born in Eatonville, Florida on December 9, 1938 and lived in a four bedroom house with his family of ten. Jones attended Hungerford High School, where he played football, baseball, and basketball.
Fearsome Foursome
(Lamar Lundy, Merlin Olsen, Rosey Grier, Deacon Jones
Jones was drafted in the fourteenth round of the 1961 NFL Draft by the Los Angeles Rams. He then earned a starting role as a defensive end and teamed with tackle Merlin Olsen to give Los Angeles a perennial All-Pro left side of the defensive line. He became a part of the Fearsome Foursome defensive line of the Rams (along with Lamar Lundy, Rosey Grier and Olsen), which is now considered to have been one of the best defensive lines of all time.
He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1980 and was also named to the league’s 75th anniversary team.
Enjoy visuals below of Deacon Jones through the years:
Deacon Jones
(Orlando Sentinel)
Deacon Jones with his parents in 1965.
Deacon Jones
(Orlando Sentinel)
Deacon Jones is honored during a parade in Winter Park in 1968.
Deacon Jones
(David Boss, US-Presswire)
Green Bay Packers quarterback Bart Starr, 15, tries to evade pressure from Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Deacon Jones, 75, at Memorial Coliseum on Dec. 9, 1967.
David ‘Deacon’ Jones
(Los Angeles Times / September 9, 1994)
Football legend David “Deacon” Jones, one of the Rams’ Fearsome Foursome, is shown wearing a commemorative jersey with his number on it.
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