Date of birth | 30 December 1921 | ||
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Place of birth | Blaenavon, Wales | ||
Date of death | 18 April 2006 | (aged 84)||
Place of death | Newport, Wales | ||
Height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) | ||
Weight | 12 st 4 lb (78 kg) | ||
School | West Monmouth Grammar School | ||
University | St. Paul's Training College, Cheltenham Loughborough College |
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Occupation(s) | Teacher | ||
Rugby union career | |||
Playing career | |||
Position | Wing | ||
Professional / senior clubs | |||
Years | Club / team | Caps | (points) |
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National team(s) | |||
Years | Club / team | Caps | (points) |
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Medal record | ||
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Men's athletics | ||
Representing Great Britain | ||
Olympic Games | ||
1948 London | 4x100 metre relay | |
European Championships | ||
Bern 1954 | 4x100 metre relay | |
Representing Wales | ||
British Empire and Commonwealth Games | ||
Vancouver 1954 | 220 yard sprint |
Kenneth Jeffrey Jones OBE (30 December 1921 – 18 April 2006) was a Welsh sprinter and record breaking Welsh international rugby union footballer. He played for both Wales and the British Isles. He is best known in Wales for his contribution to Welsh rugby, but most notably for his winning try against the All Blacks in 1953.
Jones was born in Blaenavon, Monmouthshire on 30 December 1921 and as a youth attended West Monmouth Grammar School in Pontypool. There, under the guidance of Gilbert Garnett, he nurtured a skill in rugby union, representing his school and during the holidays he would play for Talywain. During the 1939–40 season, he was selected for the Welsh Secondary School XV, his first Welsh cap and later that year he attended St. Paul's Training College in Cheltenham. Jones served his country towards the end of World War II and was stationed in India with the Royal Air Force. It was while on service that Jones developed his sprinting.
Before Jones gained fame as a rugby player he was well known as a sprint athlete. Before he competed at the 1948 Summer Olympics he was already Welsh and Amateur Athletic Association champion and won the silver medal at the 1948 Olympics in the 4 x 100 metres relay together with his teammates Jack Archer, John Gregory and Alastair McCorquodale. In 1954 he ran in the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Vancouver and won a bronze medal in the 220 yard sprint. In the same year was given the honour of captaining the British team in the European Championships in Berne. It was at these championships that Jones was again part of a 100-metre relay, silver medal team. On this occasion the team comprised Jones, George Ellis, Kenneth Box and Brian Shenton, losing in the final to Hungary.