Former Millikin Men’s Basketball Player Publishes New Book
Millikin graduate Reid Jones has invested his love for basketball in his very own book, called TPC: Team, Pride, Commitment. This book is Jones’ tribute to his successful basketball career at Columbia High School.
Jones graduated from Millikin in 2006 with a Business Management major. He not only was successful as a student, but also as a basketball player. As a senior, started all 25 games, averaging 8.5 points with an average of 3.3 rebounds per game.
“I took what I learned individually and as a team to help out the rest of my teammates,” Jones said. “I was able to learn from coach Tim Littrell’s leadership, which helped me grow from a young man into a man.”
Jones started his career in Columbia, Illinois where he made quite an impact as one of the team’s standout players. He earned third team All-State honors twice, second team All-State his senior year, as well as three-time First Team All-Conference and First Team All-Area honors. Throughout his career at Columbia, he scored 2,053 points, and played on the school’s first Elite 8 team. He used his success in high school as inspiration for his book.
“I feel the need and motivation to give back to Columbia,” Jones said. “Our team was blessed with success: we were the most winning team at the high school. Playing there taught me that you don’t have to be the best, tallest, or most gifted. If you use values like hard work, you’re enthusiastic, have high energy, and you are determined and passionate it can go a long way.”
Coming from a town of 10,000, Jones really wanted to give back to the community which gave him such success. His book, TPC: Team, Pride, Commitment talks about what is like to be part of a winning team at Columbia High School, and how teams can go about doing that. It also presents how the team accomplished all of their goals, and how others can achieve all of their goals and dreams. Net proceeds from his book will go to the Columbia Athletic Booster Club. He also has a blog you can visit at http://tpcfundraiser.blogspot.com . Jones believes that his foundation in basketball has paid off in many other ways, including his profession today.
“It’s amazing how much those fundamentals I learned help out in my career,” Jones said. “Team chemistry is something that I learned at a young age, and I use that same idea in my career today in a business environment. When you leverage those values into my career, my hard work paid off tremendously.”
With a successful career both professionally and athletically, Reid Jones has made quite an impact on his hometown by giving back to the community. By writing this book, he is hoping to motivate others to have the same success. As Jones says, “start with a dream, end with a reality.”
Former Millikin Men’s Basketball Player Publishes New Book
GO BIG BLUE!
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- TPC Team
