|
Vera Jones joined the Flyers as an assistant coach at the beginning of the 2004-2005 season. The former Syracuse University standout came to the Flyers from ESPN and Madison Square Garden Network, where she served as a broadcaster for the WNBA and NCAA women's basketball for seven years. "Vera brings a wealth of basketball knowledge, people skills and a real passion for the game," said Jabir. "She does an excellent job for us on the court and on the recruiting trail." In addition to college and WNBA duties with "The Worldwide Leader in Sports," Jones also served as an analyst for Big Ten and Big East conference games on Fox Sports Network. She is currently an analyst for the WNBA New York Liberty on the Madison Square Garden Network in New York and has also broadcast for the Indiana Fever. Her other assignments included covering the WNBA Draft for NBA TV. As a player with the Syracuse Orangewomen from 1984-1988, Jones was affectionately known as "Sweet V from the Top of the Key" for her ability to knock down the triple. SU's leading scorer her junior and senior seasons, she graduated as SU's all-time leader in three-point field goal percentage and seventh all-time on the Orange scoring list with over 1,000 points. She helped guide SU to its first-ever Big East Tournament Championship in 1985 and regular season championship in 1988, as well as its first two NCAA Tournament appearances (1985, 1988). In 1988, the Big East Conference named her the Women's Basketball Scholar Athlete of the Year. In 2002, she was inducted into the Syracuse University Orange Plus Hall of Fame. Orange Plus, founded in 1979, is the support organization for women's athletics at Syracuse University. With a bachelor's in Broadcast Journalism, Jones stayed with SU women's basketball from 1989-1991 as Graduate Assistant for Academic Advising while she completed her master's in Television and Radio. While her broadcasting career developed, Jones maintained ties to coaching as an assistant coach at Socastee High School in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina for the girls' basketball team from 1994-1995. From 1998-99, she served as interim head coach of Edward Waters College in Jacksonville, FL. In 2002-2003, she was a consultant for River Hill High School in Columbia, Maryland. Jones has also been a DJ or on-air personality at a variety of radio stations in her broadcasting career and was once named the South Carolina Broadcaster's Association "Personality of the Year." She also earned a Silver ADDY Award for commercial writing and production in Florida and has spent several years on stage as an actress and stand-up comedienne. Jones currently serves as a play-by-play announcer for the MSG Network and broadcasts WNBA games for the New York Liberty. She resides in Dayton with her son Andrew, who was born in January of 1998. |
|
|||||||||||||||
