Bert Jones has always been the kind of quarterback LSU fans still talk about with a little awe, and now the old stories are getting a fresh jolt from Jones himself.
On Jim Engster’s statewide “Talk Louisiana” radio show Friday morning, the former LSU star said the legend was true: he really could launch a football 100 yards.
“Yes, I could throw it 100 yards,” Jones told Engster when asked on the show. He added that he did it “multiple times on multiple bets.”
That kind of arm strength fit the nickname he carried long before he became LSU’s first All-American quarterback in 1972. Jones was from Ruston, and the “Ruston Rifle” label followed him out of Ruston High School in the late 1960s. At LSU, he and teammates would sometimes head out to an empty Tiger Stadium just to “toss” the ball around.
Engster said he had already checked the claim with eyewitnesses who were LSU teammates of Jones - running back Al Coffee, wide receiver Ben Jones, Bert’s younger brother, and kicker Mark Lumpkin. One of them told Engster Jones had thrown it from one goal line past the other and into the end zone at Tiger Stadium.
Jones said that memory checked out.
“Yeah, I think that was at an intramural throwing contest that we had,” Jones said. “I went out and did that, and I think it was 106 or 107 yards. And so, yes, I set the record.”
The long-ball stories are fun, but Jones’ LSU résumé was built on much more than a cannon arm. From 1970-72, he piled up 3,255 career passing yards, which was an LSU record at the time. He also left school as the career leader in touchdown passes with 28, attempts with 418 and completions with 220.
During his three seasons, LSU went 26-6-1. The Tigers won the SEC championship in 1970, going 9-3 overall and 5-0 in the league. LSU finished 9-3 and 3-2 in 1971, then 9-2-1 and 4-11 in 1972 before Jones became the second pick of the NFL Draft by the Baltimore Colts.
Jones’ No. 7 is set to be ceremoniously retired and placed on Tiger Stadium’s south side facade on Nov. 14, when LSU hosts Texas. He will join Billy Cannon, Jerry Stovall, Tommy Casanova and Charles Alexander on the facade. Cannon’s No. 20 is the only number in that group that is actually retired and cannot be worn by other players.
For Jones, the honor clearly means a lot.
“This is really a big deal in my mind,” Jones, 74, told Engster. “There is nothing greater.
And I’ve received a lot of accolades and had a lot of good things happen to me. Some of them were part of my doing, but most of them were because of my surrounding cast of supporters.
But this is the top of the ladder. Just being in the ring of honor with the great players - Billy and Jerry and Charles, and especially my roommate, Tommy Casanova.
This is as big as it gets in my world.”
Jones later became one of the NFL’s top quarterbacks with the Colts from 1973 through 1981 before finishing his injury-riddled career with the Los Angeles Rams in 1982. He remains the last LSU player to win NFL Most Valuable Player, taking the award in 1976 after leading the league in passing yards with 3,104 and throwing a career-high 24 touchdowns.
The only other LSU player to win NFL MVP was quarterback Y.A. Tittle, who did it with the New York Giants in 1963 after playing at LSU from 1944-47.
“I can say I was the best in the business at the time I was there,” Jones said. “It is what it is. It was a lot of fun.”
And, as it turns out, he could throw it 100 yards too.
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