Hurdles, Hard Work, and An Athletic Household: Miesha Jones OTFWPA NFL Woman of the Month

Miesha Jones is a pro all in herself. Jones grew up running faster and jumping higher than all the boys. As her USA Track and Field career and love unfolded, she has perfected jumping many of the hurdles of life. This hard working woman literally ran into her husband, Freddie Jones, at a San Diego track meet. It wasn’t till Freddie kept coming back to watch her run that she realized he was a “pro” too, that played for the San Diego Chargers.

Mr. and Mrs. Jones both understand what it takes to sacrifice as a sports professional and they have a mutual understanding of the transition post athletics. Miesha has now channeled her drive towards her business, Love Jones Designs. Mrs. Jones passion for creating “all things paper” has shot her off the blocks once again. Her custom invitation company has allowed her to encourage the timeless letter writing tradition that continues to provide a way to show others that they are special. This woman of ambition shares her personal stories of running with the USA Track and Field Team, meeting her husband, balancing her career, building a business,and raising a family in Dallas.

This driven woman is the epitome of Off the Field Players’ Wives Association (OTFPWA) and Pro Player Insiders dynamic NFL Woman of the Month honoree.

Pro Player Insider’s Theresa Villano was able to catch up with the former USA track and field star, Miesha Jones.

Part I:

Pro Player Insiders: Tell me a little bit about how you started in track and field and where are you living now?

Miesha Jones: I started racing when I was about 9. I happened to realize I was faster than probably all the boys in my elementary school and it was just a really exhilarating feeling to let loose and go all out. So I had a love for the sport very, very early on and it really just kept me fueled throughout elementary, middle school, high school, college, and even my pro career. It’s pretty much been part of who I am and in my blood for so long. Now I’m living in Dallas and I’m still connected to track and field community, but this time around it’s with youth sports. So I’m coaching hurdles with the youth track organizations, North Texas Jackrabbits in Dallas to keep my fire for track and field going.

PPI: Where did you grow up? What was your upbringing like?

MJ: I grew up in Cerritos which is an LA county. My upbringing, now that I look back on it, I realize my life was kind of like the movie Crooklyn. There was always something going on in my family. I was raised with my mom & stepdad, brother & sister. We also had two cousins who lived with us. It was literally something always going on. It was not chaotic, but adventurous.

PPI: So you grew up with an adventurous childhood, how did you end up in San Diego?

MJ: I moved to San Diego after I graduated high school. I went to San Diego State University on a track scholarship. At the time, San Diego State had one of the top hurdle coaches and that’s where I needed to be as a hurdler. When I graduated, I was primarily a hurdler sprinter. So I moved to San Diego, went to school down there and EVENTUALLY (laughing) learned to love the pace of San Diego versus LA. Sometimes I don’t know why I left, but I love San Diego, America’s finest city.

PPI: So eventually, you learned the slower pace?

MJ: Yeah, coming from LA everything was 10,000 miles an hour. You know, and everything was pushing forward, moving to the next thing, nothing really stands still very long in LA. Growing up in that environment was what I was used to and when I went down to San Diego I swear I was thinking, “What the heck?

MJ (cont.): It was like being in a time warp. I was losing my mind. I went home every weekend. So I scheduled my classes where I was finished on Thursday and as soon as class was over Thursday, I went straight home, stayed there until Monday morning, and drove back just in time for class. I was trying to spend as much time away from San Diego as I could. By my second year, I figured it out. I told myself “You know, this is kind of easy living. I think I could do this” and I learned to love it.

PPI: Living in San Diego, How did you meet your husband?

MJ: That was kind of funny. I was at a track meet. I was actually promoting a track meet. We were having a thing with the radio station. My husband says he walked by and he noticed a group of girls by the DJ talking about the meet. At the time my hair was really, really short and he asked a couple friends, “Do you know who that is with the short hair?” They said, “Yeah that’s Miesha. They’re having a meet this weekend and came to talk about it.” So he showed up at the meet too. I didn’t know he was there for me. It was kind of odd this huge guy was at the track. We knew the general crowd of people who came to the track meets. We knew the track fans and I saw this guy at the fence. He did catch my eye but I went about my day. Until I kept seeing the same guy coming to practice and watching! (laugh) SO eventually I asked my teammates, “Is this just me… or is this guy here all the time? Who is he here to see?” Long story short, my roommate was friends with one of his mutual friends and they kind of concocted this plan to get us together. I still had no idea this was the same guy until I finally met him. I said, “Like, oh my god, you’re a stalker! You’re all over the place. Who does that?”

PPI: (Chuckling) So you thought the Chargers greatest tight end, Freddie Jones was a stalker?

MJ: Oh no. He was a stalker. I promise you! He said, “I just had to check you out!” It was just weird. You don’t do that! You don’t just show up and watch people. We hung out and you know, he was just so silly and fun. Literally, from that first day we met each other, it’s just been nonstop with him. We’ve never make it a bad day. Even when things are bad, as long as he smiles, it’s going to be okay. I like that about him. It’s a lot of fun. We’ve been having fun since that day in ’98. That story’s been funny to people because you wouldn’t think he’s a stalker, but he is.

PPI: So how many years have you been married?

We have been married 12 years.

PPI: That is a huge victory in its self. Wow.

PPI: (Chuckling) So back to track. Recently, it was the summer Olympics in London. Did you follow it?

MJ: I followed all the track and field. I put a disclaimer on my Facebook page a week before the opening ceremonies. “If you know me, you know I eat, sleep, and breathe track and field. So un- friend me, block me, do whatever you need to do for the next 16 days, because it’s all track. You hear me?!” I was dead serious about it. I LOVE the sport. I love the competitive nature of the Olympics. Knowing how the training goes to get to that point, it’s just always fascinating for me to see all the different events. Within track and field, I followed it all. I even watched a bit of the marathon, which I was surprised I did. For me, the main events are always the hurdle races. I am a hurdler. I loved everything else as well. I was excited for the fantastic moments on the track. When the women’s hurdlers 110 came on, everything stopped. I would scream, “Children, you must be quiet. It’s on!” I used DVR a lot. The tweets from my friends who watched it live made me think, “I can’t wait to see this for myself!”

MJ (cont.): I was most excited for the hurdle races. The relays were exciting too, because we had such a hard time as a team the past few years. People were starting to doubt the relays for the American team. So it was really good to see the Americans do so well on the track and I’m always so proud. There is no event that wins more gold medals than track and field. It’s just a fact. We watched the medal count and it was looking kind of grim for a bit. I would say “You know, don’t worry, track starts in two days. It’ll be okay, because we know how to handle ourselves on the track. It was good to see so many of the hurdlers win gold medals. It’s good to see the US hurdle tradition continue. The hurdle events are very strong on the U.S. team and that makes me happy to see that the event is still thriving.

PPI: Was there any Olympians at one point you were friends with or competitors with or teammates with?

MJ: One moment that really saddened me was when a close friend, Brigitte Foster, a Jamaican hurdler, who I ran with and competed with, had a rough time. It hurt my feelings to watch her career just end so badly. One of my other close friends, Jamie Nieto, is an American high jumper that I trained with in San Diego. It was cool to watch him. The American hurdlers, I was almost watching over them like a mother. That’s all I wanted from them was to just do well. Sanya Richards came in when I was on my way out. It was good to see her do so well over the years and finally get her medals. This time around, it was kind of me being the older one, the wiser one, watching everybody that came in when I was there. Angelo Taylor is another one. We ran together as well. So there are a handful of people out there I’m personally connected to, but for the majority of the athletes, I enjoy just watching them grow up. I was proud the USA Track Team did so well.

PPI: You met your husband in San Diego. When did you get married and what was it like having him play for the Chargers or being in the league in general?

MJ: Being in the league, for me, I probably had a different experience than most wives. A lot of wives come from wherever they’re from to wherever their husbands play. That wasn’t really the case for me. I was already there. I lived in California and had friends there. My life was track and Freddie just happened to pop into it. That’s really how I saw it. My life really didn’t change much aside from having to go to games every Sunday. I would go to a game and bring a friend I hadn’t talked to in a long time & we’d catch up. If I knew Freddie was going to be on the field, I watched him. When he wasn’t on the field, I’d go back to a magazine or talking to my friend. So needless to say, I’m not a football fan, I’m just a Freddie fan.

MJ: I didn’t have the same experience as most wives, where they had to depend on each other and they were in a foreign environment. That wasn’t my experience at all during his whole career, because I was from San Diego and I was also training. I had my own focus. I had to switch around during the spring. During January to September, it was track season for me. I was still grounded as to what made me who I am, versus being so consumed by his job. For me, it was just different. Not a lot changed for me, aside from, my husband is on the field and I learned how to deal with the business side of the sport. That’s something I know my friends knew nothing about.

PPI: What happened when he went to the Cardinals? Did you move with him?

MJ: When we left San Diego, we visited five different teams. Honestly, we chose Arizona because of my career and his. I couldn’t be anywhere at all where I couldn’t train. New England, I loved it there. I would have loved to be on the team that year when they started winning back to back, but I couldn’t train in New England. That was too far for me to go back to San Diego every two weeks to see my coach. Arizona was perfect for him. He saw a lot of things with the program, where he thought he would fit in with. Plus, it was a five hour drive for me to get home. Yes, it was HOT, but it was a compromise.

MJ (cont.): We’ve always made decisions for our family. Even though it was just us two at the time, this is my job too. I’d tell him “I know you play for the NFL and it’s big in the U.S., but I’m kind of on a world level.” (Chuckling) So I needed to keep my job together too. We always had to look at my career as well as his. We thought, how are we going to work this out? So, Arizona was the best fit for both of us. I did move there and I actually liked it there. I was still able to go back and forth and it wasn’t too hard on my training.

PPI: That was a compromise and you still found a niche in Arizona. So then what happened after Arizona?

MJ: After Arizona, we moved back home to San Diego. Then we went to the Panthers. That was interesting. I had retired and had our first child by then and it was totally different for me then, figuring out how to do this “thing” with a family. I never had to do this before, so this was new. We moved out there. I thought maybe I shouldn’t have moved to Charlotte, because it was not fun for me. We all moved out together and Freddie decided his family was the most important at that point and football would only create problems that he didn’t later want to regret. He knew what injuries could come about and he wanted to be able to play with our kid at the time. He just wasn’t willing to sacrifice himself anymore. We decided as a family this is it. It was kind of like what I did when I retired. I was like a hamster going in circles. You run, you run, you run, and everybody says, “Get to the Olympics!” Either it happened or it did not happen. You try again and keep training and competing. The next thing you know, you’re 38 and you may have accomplished some of your dreams, but you don’t have a family. I’ve done all these amazing things, but where’s my family?

MJ: That’s (Family) going to maintain me for the rest of my life. My choice was to retire to be around for my family. That also gave Freddie a different perspective as well as to what’s important. It’s your family. The sport is great and provides a lot of opportunity, but for the long run, how much damage is this going to do to my family? What sacrifices am I going to have to make to my body? So, he just made the decision like that’s it, we’re going home. That was it. He retired.

PPI: It sounds like you opened the next chapter of your life. You know?

MJ: We did. For us, we were dealing with two retired athletes at the same time. The things that most players deal with as far as transition and maybe not being able to deal with anything other than sports, we were both dealing with. I was running since I was nine and I retired at 28. What do you do? Who do you go to? Who do you talk to about being retired? Nobody in their 20s knows what we’re talking about. They’re just starting. I know a lot of wives have a hard time when they’re husbands are transitioning into post football life but for me, I didn’t really. I knew exactly what Freddie was going through, because I was going through it too. They don’t give you an honorary degree in sports. You go get a job and you say, “Well, I played…Then what?”

PPI: So what did you do?

MJ: We focused on our family. That’s what kept us. We were raising our oldest and that was it. This is what we’re going to do. We have the opportunity to just really be here for him before he gets into public school. We just went all for it. We were the All-American family and that was great for both of us because it was so different and was an opportunity he would not have gotten if he was still going out everyday playing. I didn’t have a problem going out of town, because he raised our kid right next to me. We were both probably overly hands on. That was just a period that we were in. We really focused on our kid and now that our kids are older, Freddie’s saying, “I need to be back in sports and I get it because I need to get back on the track.” You can’t tell me that I’m never going to be on the track again.

PPI: Since you were so involved in your track career, one of the things OTFPWA-Off the Field Players Wives Association does is connects women, during and after, their husbands play . Are there any women you formed bonds with around the league?

MJ: I did. Sanquenette McCrary. Her husband is Fred McCrary. He played for the Chargers and then went to Atlanta and New England. San and I were really close in San Diego and we still keep in touch today. Phoenix is probably where I made the most connections. We were a “ragtag bunch”. It was interesting playing for the Cardinals when we were there. We were the most random group of friends. You would wonder how we all were friends. You would never picture us all together. We were all so different, but it was just always fun. We keep it touch now. It was a very interesting period before the Cardinals went to the Super Bowl.

PPI: In Dallas, you’ve been spreading your roots. Tell me about your design company and “all things paper.”

MJ: During the period when we moved here and we were primarily parenting, I just started playing around and scrapbooking. Every year, we would always have Thanksgiving dinner at our house and I would always make invitations. Then it just hit me, you should make your career something you do without thinking. Something that’s your passion just comes naturally. So I decided, I think this is something I would like to do. I love parties. I love paper. I love invitations. I went to the community college and I started taking graphic design courses and I figured out this is something I like to do and I want to pursue it. It’s so much different than athletics.

MJ (cont.): It was right up my alley. I was doing a lot of projects for friends and doing a lot of experimental stuff over the years and it just really blossomed. I took a break and didn’t work as hard when the kids were born, but it’s just really my way of getting my creative outlet. In a house full of boys, they could care less about the glitter, but it’s my thing. My mother was always very creative. I did a lot of arts and crafts growing up. I really found my little niche. My first love is party planning, but I wouldn’t dare jump into party planning with two kids. I would never see them on the weekends. Our family would just be falling to pieces. So, I had to take a step back and think, “How can I still stay connected?” Creating phenomenal invitations was the connection. That first impression people get is when they open that invitation to your event . An invitation really sets the tone and gets people excited about what’s to come. That’s where I put my energy into making really unique, fabulous invitations. I’ve had to up my esthetics. I really like simple, clean, no fuss, but here in Texas, that does not fly. Everything is more ornate in Texas. I’ve learned how to do a little bit more to grab the eye of the local community. I still see myself in it at some aspects. Things are so digital now, that my main focus was to keep people connected with still writing letters to each other. How great it is to get a hand written thank you card in the mail rather than getting an e-mail? My passion has always been to keep that letter writing tradition and encouraging people. It’s a
little gift you give to show someone something special.

PPI: How can we get your exquisite,digital, and paper invitations and/or services?

MJ: You can reach me on my website www.lovejonesdesigns.com and I am on Facebook, Love Jones Designs. I’m on Twitter @LoveJonesDesign. I’m on Pinterest, Love Jones Design. I am also on Etsy.com. My business is not on Instagram, just personally I am.

PPI: If you could give advice to others on how you balanced your life and how you are balancing your life as the wife of a professional athlete and as a professional athlete yourself, what would it be?

MJ: The first thing I would say is to know exactly what you want out of your life aside from everyone else that you see around you. Be confident in what you want to get out of your life and go for that. A lot of things in the NFL life seem great and fantastic, but it has a short shelf life. Whatever it is that’s important to you and that’s going to sustain you, do that. Know everyone is not born with the super mom genes, be true to who you are. If I can only do this, then that is all I can do. I’m not good at that, so I’m going to find someone that is and I’m not going to stretch myself. That’s how I live my life. It’s important to have my own outlet, but it’s important to me to be with my family and be with my friends. It has to be on my terms. I can’t let anyone tell me how to live my life and because I’m confident in knowing what I want out of my life, it doesn’t shake me when I see others doing things their own way. Just know that whatever it is for you, do it for you.

Stay tuned for more in Part II of this interview featuring more on Meisha and Freddie post atlethics projects.

Interview By Theresa Villano

For more inspiring stories from the men and woman that make up the NFL follow @Theresa_ppi