Southeastern Oklahoma State University Athletics

Football, Basketball (1939-41, 1946-47)

Gene Jones, an outstanding football-basketball player of the 1940’s, was one of the best two-sport athletes in the history of Southeastern. Born in Bokchito, Oklahoma May 6, 1919, he attended elementary and secondary school in Durant where he was a stand-out athlete in both sports, graduating in 1938.

His athletic career at Southeastern was delayed due to an illness his freshman year but he lettered in football and basketball during the 1939-40 school year. He played as a halfback on the 1939 and 1940 football teams under Coach Duane Fisher and under Coach Dave Stevens in 1941.

After military duty during World War II, Gene returned to Southeastern. He played as an end on Coach Stevens’ football team and was named to the All-Conference team in 1946. As a guard on Coach Bloomer Sullivan’s basketball team he was selected for All-Conference honors in 1946 and again in 1947.

Following graduation from Southeastern in 1947, Jones joined the powerful Phillips 66 basketball team where he played for two years. His team won the national championship in 1948 and beat powerful Kentucky University, the NCAA champions, for team honor to represent the United States in the Olympic Games.

Gene Jones was a great two-sport athlete at Southeastern. Following an outstanding college athletic career, two years of national AAU basketball, and thirty-one years of employment with the Phillips Petroleum Company, he was inducted into the Southeastern Athletic Hall of Fame on February 24, 1979.