Be on the lookout for some weekend rain
Cameron Jones was a sight to behold on the basketball court.
“You would’ve thought he had springs in his legs,” former teammate Christian Kirchman said. “I’ve seen him dunk on 7-footers.”
Jones, a Roanoke native and former standout at Radford University, died late last week at the age of 29.
He died from injuries sustained in a car accident in the Richmond area, his mother, Angela Jones, said Monday night in a phone interview. She was informed of his death in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Cameron lived and worked in the Richmond area. He was a sixth-grade English teacher at Elko Middle School in Henrico County. He also coached the school’s boys basketball team.
“I saw a huge change in my basketball team’s attitude, their grades, as a result of his coaching them,” Elko Middle School principal Herman Mizell said Tuesday. “Many of our kids would come in wanting to be athletes; they forget about the student part. But that’s what Mr. Jones emphasized, student-athlete, because he went to Radford and played basketball. He could share his experiences with the students and that made the difference.”
People are also reading…
Cameron grew up in Roanoke with his mother, Angela, and his older brother, Chris.
“He was my best friend,” his mother said.
“He was like my counselor, the voice in my head,” his brother said. “My best friend.”
Cameron played basketball as a kid because of his big brother.
“I played basketball, he played basketball. He followed everything I did,” Chris said.
Cameron was a junior reserve on the Patrick Henry (Roanoke) team that made the 2010 Group AAA state semifinals.
“He was just a really good person, had a great heart,” Esworthy said. “He really loved basketball.
“He was a joy to coach. He was fun to be around.”
“Cam [was] funny, always joking, always putting a smile on somebody’s face,” Kirchman said. “Always somebody you wanted to be around.”
After shining for Patrick Henry, Cameron spent a postgraduate year at Massanutten Military Academy in Woodstock for academic reasons.
“Super talented,” said former Massanutten coach Chad Myers, now an assistant at New Mexico State. “We had seven Division I players on that [2011-12] team and I thought he was our third-most talented guy. … Long, athletic, young kid that played inside a little bit in high school but was really a perimeter player.”
While at Massanutten, Jones signed with NCAA Division I member Kennesaw State. But he wound up playing for Brunswick Community College in North Carolina instead of Kennesaw for academic reasons.
“I started to take school more seriously [at Brunswick],” Cameron told The Roanoke Times in a 2016 interview. “I left there with a 3.0 [GPA] — think it was a 2.9, actually. It helped me mature, that’s what I say Brunswick did for me.”
Cameron did so well at Brunswick that he wound up signing with Radford.
Then-Radford coach Mike Jones (no relation to Cameron) saw him score 42 points and make six 3-pointers in a Brunswick game.
“I’ve never gone to see a recruit and been more excited about a young man after watching him play,” Mike Jones, now the coach at UNC Greensboro, said in a phone interview.
Cameron averaged 8.5 points and 17.9 minutes off the bench as a Radford junior guard in the 2014-15 season. He made 45 3-pointers for a Radford team that won 22 games.
The 6-foot-4 Cameron ranked seventh in the Big South in scoring as a senior starter in the 2015-16 season, with an average of 14.9 points. He earned All-Big South honorable mention.
“Just a joy to be around,” Mike Jones said. “A phenomenally talented player.”
Cameron ranked sixth in the Big South as a senior with 75 3-pointers.
“He was as talented an offensive player as I’ve ever coached,” Mike Jones said. “When I was at Georgia, we didn’t have players that were more talented than him offensively. When I was at VCU, he was more talented than any of those guys.
“He could score at all three levels. Had he been with us for four years, I think he would’ve been a 2,000-point scorer.”
He played professionally in Denmark and in the Czech Republic after his college career concluded.
Although he majored in communications at Radford, he became a teacher.
“The kids worked for him. They loved him,” Mizell said. “Kids will work for you if they like you.”
Cameron had a 3-year-old daughter, Kehlani.
“He was the best dad,” Angela said.
Maymont
10-06-1988 (cutline): A new gate at the west end of Maymont Park’s Japanese Garden was dedicated today. Before Virginia’s first lady, Jeannie P. Baliles, and other dignitaries arrived, Peggy Singlemann, a park horticulturalist, prepared the ribbon for the ceremony.
Maymont
02-11-1951 (cutline): This stone stable in Maymont Park is being converted into a nature center, sponsored by the Richmond Council of Garden Clubs in co-operation with the Department of Recreation and Parks.
Maymont
03-10-1967 (cutline): Lawrence Agnew Jr. (left) and Gabriel Poulin set up a display of birds as they prepare the Maymont Nature Center for its opening Sunday at 2 p.m. Agenw and Poulin are nature and wildlife specialists with the Richmond Department of Recreation and Parks, which is establishing the facility as a complement to the Maymont-Virginia Wildlife Exhibit and the Children’s Farm. The nature center is on the second floor of the former carriage house of the Dooley Estate at Maymont.
Maymont
06-19-1974 (cutline): Mrs. Charles Thalhimer sits in the Italian Garden at Maymont Park.
Maymont
06-30-1982 (cutline): Children attending Maymont’s summer day camp try out a Conestoga wagon displayed at the Nature Center.
Maymont
10-18-1976 (cutline): In spite of yesterday’s rain, a few Richmonders arrived for ceremonies dedicating the new Mary Parsons Nature Center at Maymont Park in a building that formerly was a hay barn. The center was financed by a $250,000 gift to the Maymont Foundation; it opened to the public today. Described as a fully equipped environmental learning facility, the nature center contains live animals native to Virginia, as well as displays depicting many aspects of the state’s environment.
Maymont
10-18-1976 (cutline): In spite of yesterday’s rain, a few Richmonders arrived for ceremonies dedicating the new Mary Parsons Nature Center at Maymont Park in a building that formerly was a hay barn. The center was financed by a $250,000 gift to the Maymont Foundation; it opened to the public today. Described as a fully equipped environmental learning facility, the nature center contains live animals native to Virginia, as well as displays depicting many aspects of the state’s environment.
Maymont
07-04-1977: Afternoon parade for Fourth of July drew hundreds to Maymont Park.
Maymont
12-04-1986 (cutline): Janet Lucas (left) and Emily Skinner kicked up their heels as “Florenz Ziegfeld and His Cancan Girls” greeted guests at a reception yesterday at Maymont. The event was conducted for the Maymont House Benevolent Society, major contributors to the restoration of the mansion left by Maj. James H. Dooley to the city. The members were the first to see the house’s holiday decorations.
Maymont
09-27-1988 (cutline): Maymont’s new tram makes hour-long loops around the park so that visitors may see the sights while sitting down.
Maymont
09-27-1988 (cutline): Maymont’s new tram makes hour-long loops around the park so that visitors may see the sights while sitting down.
Maymont
10-18-1976 (cutline): Paul C. Nagle of Vienna points out for his sons, David and Paul, various forms of sea life found in Virginia as they are depicted in a new display at Maymont Park. The exhibit is part of the Mary Parsons Nature Center, which was opened yesterday. The center is in a renovated hay barn at the park and will be open daily except Mondays.
Maymont
04-15-1954 (cutline): If yesterday’s warms unny weather will convince you it’s Spring, here’s some irrefutable evidence–tulips in full bloom at Maymont Park. Temperatures climbed to 78 degrees here yesterday. Today is expected to be as warm with a few showers likely.
Maymont
06-20-1983 (cutline): Kursti North (left) wears vintage hat, dress; Jessie Goodwin made her hat.
victorian day
10-28-1985: Maymont Victorian Day
victorian days
10-24-1988 (cutline): Shades of the past. Patty Elmer-Bush (left) of Virignia Beach and Charlene Bullard of Richmond engage in a 1860s-style discussion yesterday at Maymont Park. The two were participating in the park’s annual “turn-of-the-century” lawn party and equestrian event.
Maymont
06-27-1988 (cutline): William F. Long, dressed for his role as the Dooley’s butler is Maymont’s volunteer emeritus.
Victorian Day
10-27-1985 (cutline): Grin and bear. Teddy bear faces are the only ones not grinning in this picture. The bears will be joined by others at Maymont’s Victorian Day Program today. The Victorian-attired humans in the picture–who will be joined by others for picnics, entertainment and activities–are Mrs. Michael McCaig, carriage curator and her daughter, Sarah, 7 months; Michael Leslie Brown, 2 1/2; and program coordinator Richard Cheatham.
peacock
06-16-1982 (cutline): A peacock, its tail feathers down, pauses in the shade under the wisteria that covers the arbor at the Italian Gardens in Maymont Park. A park official says several peacocks roam the grounds, where one of their favorite activities is preening in front of windows so they can see their reflections.
