GREENVILLE — Years ago, Dave Jones strolled the halls of Tanglewood Middle School in Greenville County as a student.
On Dec. 13, Jones, owner of Big Dave’s All-American BBQ, returned to the school to present his childhood alma mater with a check of $10,000 on behalf of him and his son, D.J. Jones, a current defensive tackle for the Denver Broncos.
“We’re just happy that we’re able to be a part of where I walked many years ago,” Jones said.
Two $250 scholarships will be awarded annually for 10 years to one male and one female eighth grader as part of the D.J. Peace Award through the D.J. Jones Foundation. The remaining $5,000 will go toward the school’s local budget for improvements such as furniture, posters and more.
At the end of March last school year, the middle school west of downtown Greenville experienced a tragedy when a 12-year-old student, Jamari Cortez Bonaparte Jackson, was fatally shot by another student on the school grounds.
Principal Graysen Walles is grateful to those who reached out in the aftermath. During the summer, while he processed what had happened, Dave Jones reached out. The two talked about how Jones and his son could get involved.
Jones has been in the restaurant business since 1989, noting that helping others is a norm in his family that has just grown over the years.
D.J. Jones, 27, finished his Upstate schooling at Wren High School in Anderson County before attending East Mississippi Community College — the school at the center of some seasons of the Netflix docuseries “Last Chance U.” He later transferred to Ole Miss to play football and was drafted into the NFL by the San Francisco 49ers before moving on to the Broncos. Dave Jones said now that his son is in the NFL he can do more for others with his platform.
“Home is important to me,” Jones said. “Hope is important — giving hope to people is a mission statement.”
New Denver Broncos defensive tackle D.J. Jones, third from left, displays his new jersey with the help of, from left to right, his father David, wife Kayla and mother Patricia during an NFL football news conference Thursday, March 17, 2022, at the team’s headquarters in Englewood, Colo. File/David Zalubowski/AP
The school wants to promote anti-bullying campaigns and academic scholarship among its students, while ensuring “every student in this building understands how important it is for us to work together and be peaceful,” Walles said.
Tanglewood is examining how to best present anti-bullying rhetoric to the students to teach them to talk through problems, so “that they know that they don’t have to resort to violence,” Walles said. Other community members will be brought in to help achieve that, he added.
“I always mentioned that our students are the best students on the planet,” said Walles, a local barbecue business owner himself. “I really believe that and we are working together to make sure that every student in the school has that opportunity to be the best.”
The school plans to assemble a committee to set criteria for scholarship eligible students. The students will “exhibit strong leadership and relational skills, as well as excellence in academics,” a release said. The selected candidates can spend the money however they want. The first award will go out in May 2023.
Superintendent Burke Royster expressed his appreciation for not only the Jones family’s financial support but their willingness to get involved.
“Everything that we do for our students, we could do better when we have the involvement of our community,” Royster said.
Follow Stephanie Mirah on Twitter @stephaniemirah