CARBONDALE, Ill. — Saluki Athletics and Saluki Baseball will retire Itchy Jones’ uniform number 1 Saturday, April 30, 2022 before the Salukis host Valparaiso in a 2pm. (CT) Missouri Valley Conference game at the stadium named for Jones, Itchy Jones Stadium.
The uniform retirement ceremony will be part of the Saluki Baseball program’s annual Alumni Weekend festivities (4/29/22-5/1/22).
This is Saluki Baseball’s first uniform retiree. No one has worn No. 1 since Jones left SIU following the 1990 season.
Jones, who is the winningest coach in SIU Baseball history (1970-1990: 738-345-5), led SIU to three College World Series appearances. He and the Salukis finished runner-up in the 1971 CWS and finished third in both the 1974 and 1977 CWS.
Jones coached SIU to ten NCAA tournament appearances, eight MVC regular season titles, and five MVC Tournament championships.
He coached the two winningest teams in Saluki history. The 1974 Salukis finished a school best 50-14. The 1990 Salukis were a school second best, 49-14.
Jones left SIU for the University of Illinois following the 1990 season. From 1991-2005 his Fighting Illini teams were 474-373-1, won two Big Ten Conference regular season titles and made two NCAA Tournament appearances.
Jones also coached now defunct Division II MacMurray College to an 28-33 record from 1966 to 1968.
Prior to the 2022 season, his 1,240 career coaching win total was good for 25th place all-time per NCAA records.
A southern Illinois native (Herrin, Il.), whose high school did not field a baseball team, Jones played mostly second base for the Salukis from 1957-60. He was a three-time All Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Conference honoree and made the 1960 All-NAIA team.
Jones was inducted into the Saluki Athletics Hall of Fame in 1982. He was the first baseball coach inducted into the Missouri Valley Conference Hall of Fame in 2020.
