Lesson learned

The Brandon Sun website is a subscriber-only site, meaning much of what I write in the paper isn't accessible to you Internet folks.

On Tuesday, the Sun lost an important and loved member of its family when sports editor Mike Jones passed away suddenly at the age of 49. Around the city of Brandon and Westman region, Mike was known simply as Jonesy and rarely referred to as anything else.

Jonesy's presence in the community was rooted in more than 25 years of devoting himself to covering the people of the area and the stories they had. I often remarked at the difference between my job here in Brandon and past daily newspapers I've worked at because Jonesy — and by extension us staffers — was vigilant about keeping track of athletes in all sports no matter where they went when they left the confines of our corner of the province. That is something that simply doesn't get done in many other papers. In a tight-knit community such as Brandon and area, I always thought it significant that Jonesy truly cared about keeping people informed about their neighbours, like the entire region was a family who cared about what all the others were doing.

His committment to his craft — he was a stickler for clean copy and well-produced material — was outdone only by his committment to the people who surrounded him, whether it be his staff or the many, many contacts and friends he made over his career that spanned three decades.

So, because of the subscriber issue on the Sun web site I have posted my article on Jonesy simply because I wanted to share my thoughts. I hope you appreciate where that sentiment comes from.

Jonesy will be missed.

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By David Larkins
At the risk of uttering something that comes off as cliché and overused: Mike Jones taught me more about sportswriting in four years than I had ever learned in nearly 10 years working in this industry prior to joining the Brandon Sun.

It is a standardized statement, for sure, when someone close to you passes on to laud their importance and impact on your own life, but with the man I only ever referred to as Jonesy, this is not some simple platitude. Even before his sudden and stunning death Tuesday, I thought about this on many occasions and told others how infinitely better I had become at this job because I had the chance to work under him.

But nothing I’ve ever learned has taught me how to write something like this.

The thing that I always loved about working here was the freedom we are granted to allow our personality and sense of humour to shine through in our work. Jonesy would never hold you back on what you wanted to do creatively and, in an industry that so often can be so stale, that is such a welcome trait.

Perhaps the reason that freedom was granted was because Jonesy’s laissez-faire attitude shone through in so many of the things he did. He cared deeply about the things he was passionate about and that should never be mistaken, but he also understood that, at the end of the day, what remained important was making sure you appreciated and enjoyed the ride along the way.

That attitude perhaps was most apparent on the golf course where Jonesy always wanted the best results, but would not sacrifice all the other things that made his love for the game what it was.

I remember distinctly Jonesy telling me a few years back that when he drove through the gates at the Clear Lake golf course that, at that point, he was in absolute heaven. It was his place to lose himself, his place to be most content. I have thought about that brief conversation a lot over the past couple of days with the annual Grey Owl tournament slated to start Friday and Jonesy anxiously anticipating once again being in his element.

For all the hundreds of people who will tee off in the tournament, it will be tinged with sorrow by the one man who won’t.

Often pointed — and never, ever wavering — in his writing, the passion that showed up in newsprint was precisely what you’d get if he was there telling it to your face. Again, in this business, it’s a quality so often sought yet not often found, and I sincerely hope the people of this region realize the fervour and affection Mike Jones had for bringing these stories to them on a daily basis.

An old back-and-white photo of Jonesy swinging a golf club remains on a bulletin board behind his desk here at the office. It’s a reminder of the man when he was no doubt at his happiest.

My memories will be of him at moments like that. They will be images of him laughing in his familiar way along with his natural and endearing love for the simple pleasures of life.

Those memories, simple as they are, will forever be with me.

The loss is stunning. It is utterly difficult and painful to deal with.

Still, I will count myself fortunate that, from here on out, any and every time I put pen to pad I’m allowed to remember one man who impacted me on so many levels.

David Larkins has been a Sun sports reporter since 2003. He can be reached at 571-7386 or dlarkins@brandonsun.com