The curved white roof of Caesars Superdome is visible from the corner of Xavier South where, on the third floor of this ‘one-stop shop’ for students, Emily London-Jones is sitting behind her desk.
She is officially retired. But she recently decided to return ‘home’ from living and working in Alabama. Back to work as Xavier University as director of innovations. Back to New Orleans. Back to where her son was born and where his legend was made.
Twelve years have passed since the Superdome was plunged into darkness and Jacoby Jones lit up Super Bowl XLVII. That game is remembered for a 34-minute blackout after the receiver caught a 56-yard touchdown pass and then scored an 108-yard kick return as the Baltimore Ravens beat the San Francisco 49ers.
It remains a Super Bowl record. And it proved the crowning moment of a life that was cut so tragically short. Last July, at the age of just 40, Jones died in his sleep. The former Texans and Ravens star was killed in New Orleans by hypertensive cardiovascular disease, which can affect people with untreated high blood pressure. He left behind a bereft mother and a young son.
‘I was numb,’ London-Jones tells DailyMail.com. ‘He wasn’t just my son, he was my best friend.’ They spoke several times every day; her New Orleans home is filled with memorabilia and memories of Jacoby.
London-Jones sniffs and scrunches a tissue in her hand as she heads down memory lane. Before long, tears have turned her eyes bloodshot.
‘I pray every day, I have a picture of him and I look for strength,’ London-Jones says, her soft voice breaking. ‘A lady told me: ‘Don’t cry, because if you cry, he’s not happy.’ And I try to be strong enough to do that.’
But? ‘It’s hard,’ she admits. ‘I wasn’t supposed to have kids and God gave me 40 years with him… wonderful years.’
London-Jones is wearing a couple of silver bracelets on her right wrist. Two silver necklaces hang around her neck and pinned to her chest is a silver badge. She had it specially made after her son’s death.
It carries the No 12 – Jacoby’s number when he lifted the Vince Lombardi Trophy. London-Jones still has his full uniform from that night. He bought her a Super Bowl ring of her own.
This week, the Eagles and the Chiefs are in New Orleans for the first Super Bowl here since 2013. London-Jones isn’t sure whether she can face another trip to the Superdome.
Twelve years ago, the family were forced to pay $1,000 just for Jacoby Jr’s ticket. He was only six months old back then.
His grandmother grabbed him and started screaming after Jones’ first touchdown. ‘Then when he ran that ball back… Oh my god. I think I stopped breathing!’
Emily was with her grandson again last weekend. In the months since Jacoby’s death, he has helped to fill a void. ‘That’s my other part, that other heartbeat, that’s part of his dad,’ she says.
‘I’m sorry, I get a little teary-eyed… I try to be strong in front of him, but it’s hard sometimes, because when he breaks down, I break down.’
At Jacoby Jr’s mother’s house, his room is decked out with memorabilia from Jones’ career. London-Jones has a house in Houston, too, and she recently converted his bedroom there – using Jones’ old possessions.
‘He wanted to keep his dad’s furniture… he feels like he’s around him,’ she says. ‘His dad had this huge California king bed… I guess he just feels comfortable laying in that bed, knowing that’s his dad’s bed.’
Her voice quivers. ‘My grandson told me… and this was maybe a little bit before (Jacoby) passed. He told my grandson: ‘Your grandmother is a strong woman.’ And it meant a lot to me, because I know I did my best.’ But? ‘At that moment, I was not strong. Because I was missing him.’
Jacoby Jr. and Sr. used to ‘clown around… like two little boys’. The former NFL star once woke his son by drenching him in cold water. Junior got his revenge by pouring hot sauce into his dad’s mouth.
When the lights went out during the Super Bowl, he was instructed to stretch. Instead, he played tag. Jones always was a prankster. He was also an only child to a divorced mother who ran with him – along the stands – whenever he caught the ball or raced track.
‘Move out the way! Here she comes!’ people would shout. Coaches would ask: ‘What was your time, Emily? Or how many yards did you run?’ Now they ask: ‘Are you’re going to do this with Little Jacoby? I say, ‘I can’t do it – my knees are too bad!’
Jones’ son plays basketball and football – sometimes as a receiver, just like his dad. London-Jones pulls up a picture – someone had found separate photos of Jacoby Jr. and Sr and placed them side by side.
‘He’s standing just the way his daddy was.’ London-Jones says. Both have their hands on their hips. ‘I was like: ‘Oh my God!’
A mural of Jones has been painted in the park where he grew up playing park football but the most cherished moments for his mom came on their long journeys elsewhere. ‘When it would just be him and I, just talking’ London-Jones says.
‘He shared everything with me… (and) every event he went to, or did, I was there. I only missed maybe one game in the NFL and it was because I was in the hospital. I was trying to go and the doctors put me in ICU so I wouldn’t leave.’
London-Jones would communicate with her son from the stands. ‘He knew my whistle,’ she says. Eventually, however, her seat was moved to the end zone.
‘So he knew exactly where I was, I didn’t have to do that… (I had) the pleasure of just watching him run to me with that ball.’
During one Ravens game, head coach John Harbaugh spotted Jones chatting to his mother before a kickoff. He shouted at the returner, who spun around, caught it, and ran it back for a touchdown.
For London-Jones, her son’s journey to the Superdome in 2013 began the year before when he joined Baltimore. ‘This is your Mother’s Day gift,’ he told her, handing over a check. It was his signing bonus.
Two games into the season, London-Jones was introduced to Harbaugh. ‘I heard you are a great cook,’ he told her. They arranged to have a meal when Harbaugh was next in New Orleans.
A few months later, she cooked for the 180 Ravens players and staff ahead of Super Bowl Sunday.
On the menu? ‘Gumbo, jambalaya, lemon pepper chicken, bread pudding, stuffed peppers and seven-cheese macaroni, which is Jacoby’s favorite,’ London-Jones recalls. ‘I had a caravan of SUVs with food going to the Hilton.’
It took her a week to prepare but there were fears that the players would pay a price for eating such heavy food. ‘Y’all going to be lagging and lazy’,’ she remembers. ‘But undoubtedly they weren’t… his Super Bowl record will never be broken.’
At Mardi Gras, following that glorious night, Jones was treated like a deity. Some fans asked him to kiss their baby. ‘I didn’t know I was sharing him with the world,’ she says. ‘It just gave me chills to say that this city loved my son so much.’
So London-Jones made a commitment to do everything possible to continue her son’s legacy. ‘I couldn’t turn my back and just leave here.’ She is bringing back his kids’ football camps and she is working on scholarships in his name.
Jacoby used to push his mom to a buy a purse she had been eyeing up for more than a year. Last weekend, she finally brought it home.
London-Jones was praying the Ravens would secure a poignant return to the Super Bowl – back here, 12 years on.
‘It would have meant the world to me,’ she says. ‘And I know my baby in heaven, it would have meant the world to him.’
Instead, she is left only to reminisce about those days in 2013. A few memories have never left her.
Among them? The ‘Mile High Miracle’, when Joe Flacco found Jones with a 70-yard, game-tying touchdown pass with 31 seconds left of the AFC divisional playoff in Denver. His mom was so wrapped up against the cold that she didn’t realize who had scored.
But London-Jones could not mistake what her son told her after booking his place in the Super Bowl – ‘Mama, we’re going home.’ And what he said a few days later – at Mardi Gras, when she grew concerned that over-enthusiastic fans in New Orleans might put him in harm’s way.
‘Mama,’ he reassured her. ‘These people will save you… these people will save you.’
