Keith Jones
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Keith Jones completed his 19th season in professional basketball and his 12th as athletic trainer of the NBA Houston Rockets in 2007-08. Jones became the fourth trainer in franchise history when he joined the Rockets on July 23, 1996. His peers voted him the NBA Trainer of the Year in 2001.
During the summer of 2002, Jones was promoted to Vice President of Basketball Operations/Athletic Trainer after three seasons of holding player liaison responsibilities. Jones manages the physical therapy and rehabilitation of the players and organizes all team travel arrangements. Jones also aids Rockets General Manager Carroll Dawson and team owner Leslie Alexander in basketball matters, including player relations and operational issues.
Jones has served USA Basketball on six teams. He served as an athletic trainer for USA Basketball's 2007 USA Senior National Team training and 2007 gold medalist Olympic Qualifying Team, the 2006 USA Senior National Team pre-World Championship training and exhibition tour, and was an athletic trainer for the 2006 USA World Championship Team that competed in Japan. In 2005 he served as the USA World Championship Qualifying Team's athletic trainer and was also the team trainer for the gold-medal-winning United States Senior National Team during the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. Jones also served in the athletic trainer role for the 1998 USA World Championship Team in Greece and the 1999 Tournament of the Americas squad that competed in Puerto Rico.
Prior to joining the Rockets, Jones spent six seasons with the Los Angeles Clippers. When hired by the Clippers in June of 1990, he became the first African-American as well as the youngest trainer in the NBA at age 28. Jones got his start in the NBA in 1988 as the assistant trainer for the Orlando Magic and joined the Clippers the following season when their head trainer position opened.
Jones began his career in athletic training at the University of Arkansas, working as a student trainer for Lou Holtz's football and Eddie Sutton's basketball teams for four years. He interned with the Philadelphia Eagles as an athletic trainer during his college summers and worked as their full-time assistant trainer during the 1983 season. Upon leaving Philadelphia, Jones spent two seasons with the Oklahoma Outlaws and Arizona Wranglers of the USFL. He eventually rejoined Holtz at the University of Minnesota as the football trainer in 1987 before moving to the NBA.
Jones and his wife, Madge, reside in Richmond, Texas, with their daughters, Morgan and Alex, and son, Isaiah.
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