Hall of Famer Walter Jones befriends Joe Thomas, daughter
Walter Jones shuffled through his belongings last week to find the children’s book he received from a fellow Pro Football Hall of Fame left tackle’s youngest daughter.
Jones didn’t merely bond and participate in a toast with Browns legend Joe Thomas and his wife, Annie, while bringing once-in-a-lifetime news to the couple’s house in Wisconsin.
Jones also became an “Uncle Walt” figure to one of the four Thomas children, 4-year-old Reese. Jones accepted an invitation to her playroom, read her a book and took another one home after she insisted on gifting him an installment of the “Hedgehugs” series.
“I got to be the one that’s babysitting,” Jones said with a laugh during a recent phone interview with the Beacon Journal. “So I literally was in the kids’ playroom sitting there with my gold jacket on reading a book to the kids.
“The little one got attached to me to the point where she was crying. She grabbed my leg and was like, ‘Don’t leave!’ I said, ‘You’ve got to let me go. I don’t want to get into baby mode! I don’t want no more kids!’”
Jones, 49, knocked on the door of the family’s home Jan. 27 to tell Thomas he had been voted a first-ballot Hall of Famer.
For the second year in a row, the Hall of Fame used some of its icons to break the news to incoming inductees. When Jones earned professional football’s greatest individual honor in 2014, someone from the Hall of Fame called to inform him. He prefers the Hall of Fame’s new method and hopes it continues.
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It’s well documented Thomas loved studying Jones as a player — “He was kind of my idol,” Thomas said recently via Zoom — so the former Seattle Seahawks star was enlisted by the Hall of Fame for the knock.
“As soon as they called me, I was like, ‘Sure, I want to be a part of this,’” Jones said. “To be part of an offensive lineman knocking on another offensive lineman’s door to let him know he’s part of something — a great team — it was pretty amazing.”
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Jones didn’t realize the degree to which Thomas looked up to him until their visit in late January. Thomas told Jones he used to take notes while observing not only his games but also Seahawks practice film.
“For him to put the work in to watch somebody and say I want to emulate my game after that person or play the game the way he played the game, that’s pretty awesome,” Jones said. “I did the same thing when I was coming through. When I first got introduced to football, it was [Cincinnati Bengals Hall of Fame left tackle] Anthony Munoz. I saw every videotape of him.”
Jones, Thomas and Munoz are three of the seven offensive tackles who have become first-ballot Hall of Famers. Jones made nine Pro Bowls, Thomas 10 and Munoz 11.
“He’s got every right of being a first-ballot Hall of Famer,” Jones said of Thomas. “[He] played the game the right way and is well deserving.”
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Jones said he’ll be in attendance when Thomas is enshrined Aug. 5 in Canton. He’s eager to return “Hedgehugs” in a reunion with Reese Thomas, who evoked memories of Jones’ twins when they were kids. Jones’ son, Walterius, and daughter, Waleria, are 23.
“I’ve got to bring this book to the Hall of Fame,” Jones said. “It’s going to be a great photo op. I’m going to show [Reese] this book and get a picture with her with that book. [When] she grows up, she’ll know, ‘Hey, you gave me a book a long time ago.’ So I’m looking forward to that.”
The moment might just make Reese’s dad shed tears of joy.
Nate Ulrich can be reached at [email protected].
On Twitter: @ByNateUlrich.
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