The late Jacoby Jones danced in end zone and with the stars, lighting up every room he entered

In a matter of eleven seconds on that marvelous Super Bowl Sunday of 2013, Jacoby Jones made NFL history running, in his case, from the back of one goal line at the Superdome to the other.

It took him only 40 short years to carve out his niche and make friends in everybody he came across in a lifetime that was as fleeting as that 108-yard kickoff return.

From New Orleans, Jones is a former NFL player who was nine seasons in the service of the football; he was found unconscious in his bed on Sunday morning. Only three days after the man’s 40 birthday.

Mr. Cole, Jones’ college coach said, ‘The thing about Jacoby is he lived his life as the epitome of when somebody says ‘life is short. ’ “He lived it to the fullest in football, with family and in everything he did. ”

Indeed, this was his nature He was always like that.

Earl Cager was Jones’ high school teammate at St. Augustine High School before Jones transferred to Abramson High. They also joined at Southeastern Louisiana University before Jones proceeded to Lane College to further his education.

“Jacoby was always the life of the party and I mean the guy could crack jokes like nobody’s business,”Cager added. “He was a very good team-mate, too, and very good company. ”

That particular night, Jones was the, to say the least, the liveliest guy there.

He loved to laugh.

As for his dancing skills, he still loved to – from the end zone after scoring a touchdown, to on national television in “Dancing with the Stars. ” Besides, Jones was well known for the Beenie Weenie dance that he did after his first Super Bowl touchdown. Later that year, he was third in season 16 of ‘Dancing with the Stars,’ and shortly before that was instrumental in getting the Baltimore Ravens to that 34-31 Super Bowl victory over the San Francisco 49ers in 2013.

“He would have liked that show because he’s always been a live wire,” Cole interjected.

Jones, who played his final season in the NFL in 2015, most recently coached the past two years as the receivers coach at Alabama State University for fellow N. O. native, Eddie Robinson Jr.

“He was a good looking man with a wide smile on his face; a man who lighten up rooms,” Robinson added. The man was a good coach that had understood children and how to handle them. They knew him from playing for the NFL, his dancing on DWTS, but in their eyes he was just another guy from New Orleans. "

That was the longest touchdown in Super Bowl’s history by a player originally from New Orleans in a game held in New Orleans. Jones loved New Orleans. He was born here. He was raised here. But he passed away here, and I brought him next door to [his childhood home], which Katrina demolished. He never lost contact with his origins and thus he used to conduct His camps for children in Pontchartrain Prk which is where he started his sporting activities. They shook their booties and participated in Mardi Gras and dancing and parading through the paths of New Orleans. If it was New Orleans, he wanted to be a part of it.

”The music was going to play and he was going to dance,” Robinson said. ‘He just always kept the creation mood light. ’ ”

That Super Bowl was the one Jones played in his hometown 11 years ago. Shortly into the second half and kickoff return by All-American Pat White, the lights at the Louisiana Superdome went out. For an article I was writing about that particular moment on the tenth anniversary of the event in 2023, I had a sit-down with Jones.

Jones said he personally remember they played an intense game of freeze tag with his teammates while waiting to get into the field. “We were just kinda running around having fun and when you go through things in life, those things do not really get your attention So that s*** didn’t even get my attention at all. ”

Simply, Jones was a person who doesn’t miss an opportunity to turn everything into the best.

He was still to the manor born.

The Beaumont Renegades of arena football hired him in April as the head coach.

It will be recalled that he blew 40 candles on Thursday.

The day before that he becomes a member of the Hall of Fame of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference – a conference of HBCUs where Jones played for Lane College in Jackson, Tennessee.

“He proved that it is not the place but it’s the action that defines you once you get there,” Cole said.

The Houston Texans selected Jones in the third round of the 2007 annual NFL draft. Since then he has played for the Ravens the then San Diego Chargers, and has recently moved to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Arguably, he had his best season in 2012 performing as a first-team All-Pro player, and getting to the Pro Bowl. But he saved the best for the last when he performed a fantastic postseason in that very year. It featured walkthrough touchdown saving the Ravens’ season from a game against the Denver Broncos labelled as the ‘Mile High Miracle’. But he did come through in the end that year and in the Super Bowl XLVII he scored 2 touchdowns.

Remember that game that Jones’ mom bet on and had to deliver on that promise afterward.

Emily London Jones had stated to her son that she would be getting a tattoo if the Super Bowl was won.

She has a symbol of a heart tattooed on her foot with a number “12 ” that is Jacoby’ s number.

There is only the stench of the ink remained and for the rest, at least for all we can see there is only the shade of bubbly personality left, and well must include former teammate J. J. Watt’s social media message.

“In particular, using the Facebook page created in memory of the 44-year-old, Watts said Jacoby was one of the most fun loving teammates and people he had ever met,” ”Always dancing and laughing, with a smile on his face; did not stay far, far too long. ”