High School football is far from a one-man team, but for the Guthrie High School football program, Demarko Jones was the man that helped put the program on the map. Now, he will be remembered forever when he’s inducted into the Guthrie High School Hall of Fame this week.
Along with Jones, the 1968 and 1969 state championship basketball teams will join some of the other great Guthrie teams to ever compete. The catalyst for the title runs was head coach Bob Griffin. He’s expected to be in town for the enshrinement.
Griffin, a GHS and Oklahoma Coaches Association Hall of Fame member, not only led the team to the titles but also a state runner-up finish in 1967.
Jones helped lead the way for Guthrie’s first-ever football state championship in 2002. After a 2-2 start to the season, Jones was moved from under center to the shotgun and the rest was history with 10 straight wins for the program’s first championship game and title.
He rushed for over 1,000 yards while passing over 1,000 yards in his senior year and was named the All-City Player of the Year.
In the title game in Stillwater, Jones rushed 28 times for 162 yards and completed 5-of-13 passes for 81 yards and a touchdown to lead the Bluejays to a 16-13 victory over No. 1 Booker T. Washington at Lewis Field.
Jones was a two-way player and picked off a pass with less than three minutes left in the championship game.
Since then, Guthrie has been a force in Class 5A football with three more state titles coming in 2007, 2011, and 2013.
Jones and the basketball teams will be honored throughout Homecoming Friday beginning with at the Alumni Assembly at the high school at 8:30 a.m. The parade is set for 3 p.m. and a Hall of Fame reception will be held at 4 p.m. inside the Oklahoma Territorial Sports Museum.
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