"What Really Happened To Lockjaw Jones"

Do you remember the all american quarter back from the 1955 Oklahoma Sooners? Nobody does. What really happened to Lockjaw Jones?

“What Really Happed To Lockjaw Jones”

By Cody Williams

 

            Freddie Norris walked in the front door and ran through the kitchen into the living room where his grandfather, Pat Norris sat in his red leather Lazy Boy recliner. Freddie was ten years old. He was short and had short black hair. He wore glasses that drooped down to the tip of his nose. Pat was eight two years old. He had fine white hair surrounding his head and was balled and covered with liver spots on tip. Freddie leaped up on his lap waking him up.

            “Hey Papaw!” Freddie said with a smile on his face while hugging him around the neck. Pat hugged him back and patted him on the back.

            “Hey buddy! What are you doing?” Pat asked his grandson. Freddie pulled away and smiled at him.

            “Nothing! We’re up here for dinner!” Freddie replied. Pat smiled back.

            “You are? What all are you going to eat?” Pat asked humoring the child.

            “Some mashed potato’s, corn, turkey, dressing, and some pumpkin pie!” The boy said with pride.

            “Ummm, sounds like good eatin’ to me.” Pat said to him. Pat and Freddie had a special relationship. It was friendship of sorts. Freddie was not exactly a momma’s boy or a daddy’s boy; he was a grandpa’s boy. The two of them spent a lot of time together. Throughout the summer they went fishing on a various story. Pat was Freddie’s hero. He wanted to grow up and be just like him. When Pat spoke weather it was about fishing or “the good old days”, as Pat called them, Freddie listened with awe.

            Freddie looked up at the wall beside the recliner that the two of them were sitting in where there was a framed black and white photo that read 1955 Oklahoma Sooners NCAA National Champions. Pat was on that team. He was a senior in college and was the starting quarterback for the team. It was the only national championship he won in college football. Freddie noticed something strange in the corner of the picture. It looked like there was someone missing there. Like the person was erased from the photo, but he could still tell it.

            Freddie got up from the recliner and got on the couch in front of the picture. The closer he looked to it the more he realized. There was a severed hand on the shoulder of the football player in front of the erased point.

            “What’s that Papaw?” Freddie asked pointing to the severed hand and then to the area where the man belonged. Pat sighed and stood up from his recliner and groaned. He walked over to the picture and observed it closely.

            “What’s what buddy?” Pat asked his grandson.

            “That hand right there. And why does it look blurry there? It looks like there should be someone there!” Freddie said. Pat tuned around and walked back over to his recliner. He sat down and looked over at the face of mystery his grandson was wearing.

            “That buddy was Lockjaw Jones!” Pat answered him. The boy jumped off the couch and walked back over and got on his grandfathers lap.

            “Who’s that?” Freddie asked looking engaged. Pat looked up at the picture and then back at Freddie.

            “Lockjaw Jones is the man nobody remembers. The man who no longer exists.” Pat said. “Nobody wants to acknowledge his existence. Lockjaw Jones is not a has been, he’s a never was!” Pat continued to explain.

            “Why? What happened to him? Where is he now?” Freddie asked as he was now hooked and hanging on Pat’s every word.

            “Now? He’s no longer here! He dropped off the face of the earth. And I think that’s what most people wanted anyway after what happened. After all the trouble caused.” Pat said to him.

            “Why? What happed? What did he do?” Freddie asked a series of questions. Pat smiled at his grandson and sighed.

            “Okay, I’ll tell you the story.” Pat stated. “The year was 1955. We knew going in that that year was going to be special. We had one of the greatest teams in the country that year. We had several new faces that year, one of them being Lockjaw Jones. Lockjaw Jones was the newest kicker on the team. He came in as a freshman and earned the starting position. He was crazy good! He holds, sorry, he did hold the all time record for longest field goal…the record of 70 yards would still be today if it wasn’t completely erased from the record book, much like his entire career in the NCAA.” Pat informed the boy.

            “Why? What did he do that was so bad?” Freddie asked.

            “He was involved in the worst scandal in colligate football history! What most people didn’t understand when the story first broke was he was one of the most loved guys on the team. Nobody looked down on him until the word got out. He seemed like a pretty normal guy until the end of the season. He began to get very distant. He didn’t want to go out for drinks as much. He seemed to have changed a lot.

            The day of the big championship game, he was nowhere to be found until right before kickoff. He came from the tunnel and ran out onto the field like he wasn’t even late. He did the opening kickoff and started our run to victory. He seemed pretty normal during the game…for the most part. The strangest thing was that whenever they announced his name or he was a cop walk by, he got real nervous. Like he was hiding from them. We went on to win the game and we took the celebration into the locker room.

            Still something seemed wrong with Lockjaw Jones. He didn’t see that happy. In fact, he seemed miserable. I looked out the window from the locker room where the coach was standing there with a state trooper. I looked as though the coach was given some horrible news. He looked very down. He came into the locker room and walked over to us. He leaned over to tell Lockjaw something. Coach patted him on the shoulder.

            ‘Let’s go son!’ Coach said leading him out of the locker room. We all curiously walked over and looked out the window trying to quiet down so we could hear something. We still couldn’t hear anything. All we saw was Lockjaw break down and start sobbing and the state trooper pull his arms behind him and handcuff him. He as assisted out of the stadium never to bee seen or heard from again. When the coach came back into the locker room we all surrounded him for answers. He ignored us and walked to the office and shut the door. It was a week later before we found out what really happened.

            A week later my friend Billy came into my dorm room and showed me that day’s newspaper. It read:

            OKLAHOMA FOOTBALL PLAYER ARRESTED FOR ACCUSED MURDER SPREE!

            There were a total of 40 teenaged girls raped and murdered throughout the course season.” Pat said. Freddie’s mouth dropped open with shock.

            “The coach went on to resign the next day. Everyone figured that it would be easier to forget about it instead of dealing with it. It would be easier to pretend like it didn’t happen. So that’s what we did.” Pat continued. “Nobody will admit to knowing anything about Lockjaw Jones…and soon nobody will even remember who he was. Now let’s go eat some Thanksgiving dinner!” Pat said getting up and leading Freddie out of the room. Pat looked back at the picture for a moment. He looked into the nearly invisible face of Lockjaw Jones.

            “Why dear friend? Why?” Pat mumbled as he turned off the lights and shut the door.

Copytight 2013 by Cody Williams

Courtesy of True Crime Press

A division of TTP Entertainment

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Author's Note

This is a bit different that what I've written before. My first mystery if you will. I always wanted to write a mystery story...here it is. Please comment and tell me what you think.

-CW

Reviews

[Douglas White]

As with much of your writing that I've commented on, the core concept for this is solid and strong, and has a lot of potential for further development. My biggest critique is that you still tend to over-detail what isn't really important. A re-write or two will take care of that. Otherwise, good story.

[Cody Williams]

Thanks for taking the time to read it Douglas!

-CW

[Eddie Phillips]

It's good. I think at times over descriptive but it is a really good story. I like it as a first draft.

[Cody Williams]

Thanks for reading Eddie!

-CW

[Riding the Rainbow]

it was really good..unfortunately, I had my personal nightmare these days. I live in Sardinia..

[Cody Williams]

Thanks for reading!

-CW

[Dayran]

An achievement in the field ... that surpassed by far anyone else. We all know that feeling ... and beyond that it confers on us a right to life ... more than anyone else. Sadly ... few in that position understand well ... what that means. A timely reminder Cody.

[Cody Williams]

Thanks for reading Dayran! It's always a pleasure getting to hear your thoughts!

-CW

[Marie]

It's good, COdy. But it sounds an alwful like an idea taken from Stephen King's "Bronco Billy".

[Cody Williams]

I see why you say that. That's not at all what I thought of when I wrote it. I got the name Lockjaw Jones stuck in my head from some where (I don't really remember where.) I thought to myself " This guy sounds like a bad a*s grid iron FOOTBALL player from the old days." I put the idea aside and figured that the right idea would come along eventually.

I began hearing about all theses scandals in football today and I wanted to write about that. That's when old Lockjaw entered my head again. I also did some research for a previous story about serial killers that didn't get used in the story and thought they would work nicely here.

I though "What would be the biggest scandal in college football? Something so horrible that most of our grandparents wouldn't dare remember." The murder and sexual assault popped it my head and I started writing it. I did not have Stephen King's Blockade Billy in mind at all! I have read it but it's been a while ago. I also wanted to write a good old fashioned hard mystery story.

Thanks for reading it Marie! Have a good one!

-CW

[Coyote Poetry]

You have written a outstanding story. You brought me in with the good conversation and brought to life the mystery and tale. I like the way you led the reader to the sad ending. The story held me to the last word. No weakness in the outstanding tale.
Coyote

[Cody Williams]

Thanks for reading it!

-CW

[Sami Khalil]

You keep us mystified and you deserve you deserve all your poetic and story-telling pride...Bravo...:)...................

[Cody Williams]

Thanks for reading Sami!

-CW

[Sami Khalil]

You are welcome...:)......................

[Leslie Philibert]

A fine write, that I need more time to look at with the concentration it deserves..

[Cody Williams]

Thanks for reading!

-CW

[Angel]

I am intrigued. You wonder, don't you...when you read about serial killers...what could have been going on in their minds to make them do the horrible things that they do. And you know that there had to have been people who knew them...
"He was such a quiet man...never caused any trouble..."

*shivers*

[Cody Williams]

Thanks for reading Angel!

-CW