By RANDY GONZALES
Special to the Hays Post
Jason Jones thought it would be a fun trip down memory lane.
Jones, who coached track and field at Norton Community High School for 21 years, accumulated dozens of team shirts through the years.
Shortly before school started this past fall, Jones decided to wear a different team shirt or jacket to school every day.
“I thought it might be fun to put them on and wear them again, maybe spark a little conversation among former athletes,” said Jones, who teaches English at the school. “I have pretty strong memories attached to each and every shirt. It’s been fun to pull them out again, put them on.”
Jones was an assistant coach for the track and field team for four years, then was head coach for 17 seasons before deciding to step down from coaching following the 2023 spring season. His girls’ team won the state championship in 2008, and his boys’ squad won it all in 2016.
In addition to being a fun project, wearing a different shirt each day from years gone by elicited a different emotion from Jones.
“It’s kind of a way to have fun for me and provide closure to my coaching career,” Jones said. “It’s been good to re-live those memories.”
Jones, now 47, might have been a little surprised that he was still able to slip into each shirt.
“I have been able to get them all on,” he said. “(But) they don’t fit like they used to.”
Jones walked the hallways in an old shirt for the first time on Sept. 4. He wore his girls’ Class 3A state championship shirt in September and then donned the boys’ state title shirt a couple of weeks ago.
Jones said every season he would get both a coach’s shirt and a team shirt designed by that year’s seniors. In addition, there was state-meet clothing each year.
Jones knew as the holidays approached, he was reaching the end of the line to wear a different shirt each day.
Jones pulled on his 50th and final shirt on Tuesday. He thought he had a shirt for every year, but after checking his closet, he found he was missing a few years.
“I’ve got multiple shirts for every year, but I don’t have them all,” he said.
Jones doesn’t have a favorite shirt but he knew which one to wear last. It’s from the 2020 season that was canceled due to COVID-19.
“We had a meeting right before the shutdown,” Jones said. “That was a great group of kids, a lot of talent. I was really looking forward to that season.”
With that 2020 season canceled, Jones still wanted his athletes to experience team bonding.
“Every day there was a scheduled track meet we didn’t get to compete in, we did a crazy, funny post (on social media),” Jones said. “We did that the whole spring.”
Jones joined his athletes in posting photos, including some with his son, Carter, and his daughter, Courtney, who both would have been on the team that spring.
Staci Montgomery, also an English teacher at Norton, liked Jones’ shirt idea from the very beginning and said she thought the photos needed to be put on social media so former athletes could see them.
Montgomery would dutifully post the photos on Facebook for Jones.
“Jason’s life passion is not just track but being connected with his athletes,” Montgomery said. “He spends an enormous amount of time being invested in their lives, not just their track lives. I just thought it would be great if everybody knew how important this was to him, and how important they were to him.”
Montgomery said Jones’ shirt idea caught fire around the school and has become popular among students and teachers alike.
“I laughed, told him he was getting a cult following,” Montgomery said. “I wish it could go on. I really want to do something with those shirts.”
There has been talk of turning the shirts into a quilt, but Jones wasn’t so sure because then he wouldn’t be able to wear them again.
“I’m kind of sad it’s over with,” Montgomery said. “It’s been really fun to do every day.”