(Editor's Note: Alan McGuckin, who works for Dynamic Sponsorships, passed along this profile of Teb Jones, who finished 2nd at last week's Arkansas River Central Open.)
Many will say it was the 4-ounce dead fish penalty Teb Jones suffered on the tournament’s final day, when a smallmouth took an acrobatic leap and tore a gill, as the reason he lost by a mere ounce at the recent Arkansas River Central Open. Others could point to the huge gizzard shad a bass coughed up in his livewell the day before.
Surely, that would have weighed at least an ounce, had it stayed semi-digested and made the trip to the scales in the belly of a keeper bass. Doesn’t matter. It’s past. Raising questions as to why things don’t turn out the way we plan lacks accountability to something bigger than us. So Jones is moving on after a gut-wrenching loss.
Regurgitated shad and an acrobatic suicidal smallmouth were out of his control. Now, as conservation director for his state’s chapter, he’s focusing on making sure the bass brought to the scales at his upcoming Mississippi B.A.S.S. Nation event at Toledo Bend are handled properly to ensure their live release.
That’s the essence of Jones – a giver, not a taker, and always with class and concern for the greater good of the future. He always chooses to focus on the positive, and how to do better.
For 10 years previous, he gave in the most gracious of ways leading the Missississpi B.A.S.S. Nation as president, leading that chapter, nearly single-handedly out of dark times when he was pretty much the only remaining card-holding member.
“Back around 2004 or 2005 we were down to zero budget, no checking account, and I was about the only remaining member,” he recalled. “Now, we have around 250 members, and we’re doing really well. Things are good.
Jones, who runs a successful commercial insurance firm, has used his business savvy to gain entry into a very exclusive group of non-pro anglers that industry marketing agency Dynamic Sponsorships trusts to provide turnkey assistance for clients like Toyota, Leer and Carhartt – as Jones is always called upon to work the fishing industry’s biggest events on their behalf.
Combine his business professionalism with nearly $60,000 in career tournament winnings, his qualifying for the 2015 Bassmaster Classic through the B.A.S.S. Nation and indeed, Jones has assembled a very rare resumé rich with fishing talents and life achievements by working for the greater good.
Like that time decades ago under a pavilion at Johnson State Park in his hometown of Hattiesburg, Miss., when a storm wiped out a day of water skiing. Jones was single with no kids, and taking cover with a group of other skiers when a toddler chewing on a hot dog decided Teb’s lap looked like a comfortable place to wait out the storm. Teb became smitten with young Evan’s single mom, Angela, and the two have now been married 24 years.
There wasn’t just one hot dog-eating toddler.
“I didn’t know as I started checking out his momma, that he had a brother,” Jones howled.
Indeed, with Evan came Logan. Teb raised them both as his own. And they’re both great men. Evan’s now a successful salesman in Hattiesburg, and Logan a fireman in the U.S. Air Force.
“It’s just what you do in this life, “ says Jones. “You contribute your time, money, and energy for the greater good.”
