Syracuse.com - Skaneateles man: 'My dad was in the 1932 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid'

[HuntingNY-News]

The father never told his children about it, until shortly before he died.

SKANEATELES, N.Y. -- Many Central New Yorkers will get into the Olympic spirit Friday morning with the opening ceremonies of the XXII Winter Olympiad in Sochi, Russia.

Paul Jones Jr., of Skaneateles, is among the few who have a personal connection to the Winter Olympics - particularly with the opening ceremonies. He's reminded of it every time he looks at a picture hanging on the dining room wall at his Skaneateles home.

Jones said he first saw the photo about four years ago when he and his wife, Sue, were walking through the Lake Placid Olympic Museum.

"Sue was the one who spotted it. She saw it on the wall and said, 'Hey, that's you!' "Jones recalled.

Paul Jones Jr. at his Skaneateles home with the photo of his father .David Figura | [email protected] 

His wife was pointing to a photo from the 1932 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid. It showed a young boy carrying the "United States" sign on a pole. He was marching in front of the U.S. flag bearer, Billy Fiske, of Illinois, a bobsledder. The rest of the American delegation followed as they made their way around the speed skating oval for the winter Olympic opening ceremonies.

The resemblance to the young boy in the picture to Jones, then in his mid-50s, was uncanny. "Holy smokes, that's not me," he told his wife. "That's my father."

Jones immediately contacted the museum director to get copies of the photo. They then drove right over to see Jones' father, Paul Jones Sr., who lived in Lake Placid. The father confirmed it was him in the photo.

Jones, who was born and raised in Lake Placid, was incredulous. Neither he, nor his four other siblings had ever been told. Why?

"I thought I did," the father said.

"I said, 'But Dad, you're in the museum!" the son said. The father responded: "Well, that's nice."

The elder Jones told his son what had happened. He told the story again -- with more detail -- on his death bed this past September when he died following a short illness at age 97.

Jones recalled those conversations earlier this week during an interview at his home. "It was a loosey, goosey Olympic opening ceremony and it was as simple as that," he said.

His father, then 17, was a member of Lake Placid Boy Scout troop and the Scouts were told they would have to help out in the opening ceremonies because there weren't enough volunteers from the community.

"The young Scouts didn't know what they were going to do. They didn't know if they were going to direct cars, direct athletes or what," Jones said. "All they were told was to gather that morning at the American Legion Hall at 9 a.m."

At that Legion Hall, the Scout leader made a surprise announcement. He told the boys that they would be carrying placards noting the names of each of the different countries. They were told that they should get over to the start of the procession -- immediately. The first ones there, he said, would have their pick of which signs they would carry.

The start of the procession was a good mile away from the Legion Hall.

"My father ran like a rabbit," Jones said. "He got there first, beating his friend, George Hart, who ended up being a well-known doctor in Lake Placid. My father took the United States sign. George grabbed the Canadian sign."

To sweeten the deal, the Olympic officials gave each of the Scouts identical jacket and hats.

"My father said he got to keep his. He said they kept him nice and warm," the son said.

Paul Jones Sr. was proud of being a World War II vet and a Lake Placid resident. However, for most of his life he never told his kids that he participated in the opening ceremonies of the 1932 Olympics.photo courtesy of Jason Jones 

Jones said shortly after the Olympics his father, the eldest of nine children, had to drop out of high school to help support his family during the depression. He eventually served in the military, got married and earned a GED.

The elder Jones and his wife Esther, spent the rest of their lives in Lake Placid. He worked a variety of jobs and was a long-standing member of the American Legion and Knights of Columbus.

When the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid rolled around, the father was again called into action. This time, he helped out as auxiliary police officer, directing traffic, doing crowd control at various athletic events and other duties.

For security and logistical reasons, all traffic in and out of Lake Placid was banned during the day. Locals were limited to driving in and out between midnight and 6 a.m. and needed special parking passes to get through the security that ringed the community.

"My Dad sent me his parking pass in the mail," Jones said. "I drove up there and stayed for about a month and had a ball. I saw a lot of the events. I didn't see the 'Miracle on Ice' (when the U.S. hockey team beat the Russians in the semi-finals), but I was there for the gold medal game."

Jones said he was outside the rink, at the Olympic Center when the U.S. team beat the Russians. "It was like people a mile thick this way, a mile that way," he said. "You think Syracuse had a yippie ki-yay moment after the Duke game last weekend? You should have seen this one. It was wild."

As for the 1932 Olympic picture, Jones said his wife Sue secured 10 copies from the Olympic museum - including the one that hangs today in their dining room. The others were framed and passed out to other family members as Christmas presents.

"It's something I've passed on to my kids and hopefully they'll do the same to their kids... that their grandfather, their great grandfather, was in the 1932 Olympics," he said.

View the full article on The Syracuse Outdoors Blog