Hall of Fame
From the 2010 Hall of Fame program:
One of just a few players in Pepperdine men’s basketball history that can say he played in four consecutive postseasons, Dana Jones was considered a leading reason for Pepperdine’s success in the early 1990s.
Jones was named the Valley’s Player of the Year by both the Los Angeles Times and Los Angeles Daily News after his senior season at North Hollywood High School. He enrolled at Pepperdine in the fall of 1990 and was in the starting lineup for his first game. He came off the bench the next four contests, but returned to the starting lineup after that and stayed there for the remaining 116 games of his collegiate career.
The left-hander’s scoring progressively improved each season: 10.0 points per game as a freshman (leading to WCC Freshman of the Year honors) to 11.4 as a sophomore to 15.6 as a junior to 18.4 as a senior. He finished his career with 1,677 points, more than anyone else in Pepperdine history except for Dane Suttle. Though just a 6-foot-6 small forward, Jones is the only player in Pepperdine history to pull down more than 1,000 career rebounds (1,031).
Jones was rewarded with West Coast Conference Player of the Year honors following a junior season where in addition to his scoring average of 15.6 he led the league with 9.1 rebounds and a 62.0% shooting percentage. He wasn’t able to repeat the honor as a senior despite increasing his statistics to 18.4 points and 9.7 rebounds, but did manage his fourth straight All-WCC honor (third straight on the first team).
Jones saved some of his best basketball for the postseason, as he became the first player ever to make the WCC Championships’ all-tournament team all four seasons (only one other player has done it since). Jones was named MVP of the 1994 event as he averaged 22.0 points and 10.0 rebounds.
He was part of Pepperdine teams that competed in the postseason all four years: the 1991, 1992 and 1994 NCAA Tournament and the 1993 NIT. He was part of three straight WCC regular-season titles between 1991-93 and three WCC Tournament crowns (1991, 1992 and 1994). Pepperdine went 88-35 during the four seasons.
Jones went to Japan to continue his basketball career, playing for the Sumitomo Sparks, NKK Sea Hawks and Panasonic Kangaroos between 1995-96 and 2000-01. He made the All-Star Team in 1996-97 with the Sparks and was also named the Defensive Player of the Year after leading the league in steals.
His career was cut short by injury, but rehabilitation put him on course for his next career, as Jones became interested in the field of physical therapy. He currently works for South Pacific Rehabilitation Services and helps many young athletes recover from their injuries.
Jones has two children (Taylor and Miro) and resides in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. He graduated from Pepperdine in 1995 with a degree in sociology.
