Hurricane Milton rips roof off Tropicana Field where the Tampa Bay Rays play and man the stadium that was used as staging site for responders really took a beating during the storm. The Roof was badly damaged Wednesday night as Hurricane Milton slammed the region. Video posted by CBS affiliate WTSP and aerial photos of the stadium show that the fabric that served as the domed building's roof had been ripped to shreds.
A drone image shows the dome of Tropicana Field torn open by Hurricane Milton in St. Petersburg, Florida, on Oct. 10, 2024. BRYAN R. SMITH/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
The St. Petersburg Fire Rescue has since confirmed that there were no injuries in the aftermath of the storm. It was not immediately clear how much damage there was inside the stadium but it's clear the entire roof needs to be re done, and the drone video posted on social media showed the roof completely ripped to shreds with debris all over the field.
Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers tight end Dave Moore also posted images of the damaged stadium on social media.
The view from our window as we ride out the storm. The roof of Tropicana Field is destroyed by the winds of #HurricaneMilton. Praying for Tampa Bay and all areas affected. Stay safe, everyone pic.twitter.com/uy0aNGMAuJ
WTSP reported that Tropicana Field had been hosting thousands of linemen and National Guard members as they prepared to respond to damage from the storm. Photos from earlier this week showed rows of cots covering the baseball diamond. Gov. Ron DeSantis' press secretary, Jeremy Redfern, said in a social media post that the staging area had already been relocated before the roof was damaged. The Rays media guide, reported that Tropicana Field features the world's largest cable-supported domed roof and is "built to withstand winds of up to 115 miles per hour."
According to the National Weather Service, Albert Whitted Airport, which is located about six minutes away from Tropicana Field, recorded wind gusts up to 101 mph during the 10 p.m. hour. The stadium in St. Petersburg opened in 1990 and initially cost $138 million, according to The Associated Press. It was due to be replaced in time for the 2028 season with a $1.3 billion ballpark. After making landfall near Sarasota with a Category 3 status, Hurricane Milton weakened to a Category 1 storm as it crossed Florida, and was expected to weaken further as it moves out over the Atlantic Ocean.
WOW One of the biggest names ever to come from my country island Cuba and former Red Sox pitcher Cuban legend Luis Tiant passes away at 83. I remember as a kid my dad would talk about him A LOT as he was a major icon in Cuban baseball here in America and really did a lot to open the eyes of scouts, and people in MLB (Major League Baseball) in terms of scouting Latin America for talent.
With an amazing whirling, twisting delivery a style on his own in the history of the sport Luis Tiant turned his performances into theatrical magic. While in his prime in the 1970's, you didn’t need a radio or television to know that Tiant was pitching at Fenway Park. Throughout the packed houses he pitched in front of, cries of “Looie, Looie, Looie!” echoed around Kenmore Square and other parts of Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood. The lovably charismatic El Tiante as he came to be known throughout his memorable career was said that “Luis had the kind of unforgettable presence that made you feel like you were part of his world,” said Red Sox principal owner John Henry in a statement. “He was a pitcher with incredible talent, accomplishing so much with a style uniquely his own. But what truly set Luis apart was his zest for life, embracing every moment with an infectious spirit, even in the face of his many challenges. He channeled everything into his love for the game and the people around him. He was magnetic and had a smile that could light up Fenway Park. Luis was truly one of a kind and all of us at the Red Sox will miss him.”
But he left behind a legacy that won’t be forgotten by those who knew him, played with him or cheered for him. "At least people still remember me and remember what I did all those years,” Tiant said in a 2017 interview with MLB.com. “I know what I've had to do with my life, and I'm lucky. I'm lucky I played all those years. God gave me the opportunity to play. What more can you ask? You can't ask for more than that." His teammates never asked for more than what Tiant gave them. “Nobody was a tougher competitor or a better teammate. He meant too much to us, and to the fans. We all loved him,” wrote Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski in the foreword of Tiant’s autobiography, “Son of Havana,” which was published in 2019. In a 19-year Major League career, the Cuban native had a career record of 229-172 with a 3.30 ERA, pitching for Cleveland (1964-69), Minnesota (’70), Boston (’71-78), the Yankees (’79-80), Pittsburgh (’81) and the Angels (’82). When fellow Cuban Tony Oliva was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2022, he stood on the stage on a stifling hot Sunday in Cooperstown, N.Y., and noted that Tiant deserved to be there also.
Though Tiant never got the call from the Hall, the three-time All-Star led the American League in Baseball Reference WAR for pitchers in 1968 and was in the top 10 in seven other seasons. That '68 season was the Year of the Pitcher and Tiant played the part better than anyone not named Bob Gibson or Denny McLain, posting a 1.60 ERA in the first of his eventual four 20-win seasons. The 1975 World Series, in which the upstart Red Sox played a compelling seven-game set before ultimately falling to Cincinnati’s vaunted Big Red Machine, turned Tiant into a household name. But for the gritty righty, the son of a Negro Leagues star (Luis Tiant Sr.), it all started in Cuba, where he was born on Nov. 23, 1940. Tiant followed in his father’s footsteps, becoming an ace in his homeland during his youth. The problem was that Cuba didn’t have professional baseball once Fidel Castro took power in 1959. For three seasons from 1959 through ’61 Tiant pitched for the Mexico City Tigers, hoping he would be noticed by a pro scout. Tiant got his wish when Cleveland purchased his contract from Mexico City for $35,000 prior to the '62 season. Any remorse Tiant might have had for fleeing to the United States straight from Mexico City was eliminated by a letter his father had written him a couple of months earlier that was quoted in Tiant’s autobiography:
“Don’t come home. Castro is not going to allow any more professional sports here no baseball or boxing. If you do come home, I don’t think you’ll be able to get out again. They are not letting many people leave the island, especially young men of military age.” Years after his father, a lefty, had dominated in the Negro Leagues, Luis Jr. carved his own path in the United States, starting with parts of three seasons in the Minors. In 1964, Tiant got his break when Cleveland needed a starter for a July 19 game at Yankee Stadium against a team that was in the middle of a dynasty. All Tiant did in his debut was fire a four-hit shutout with 11 strikeouts while out dueling the legendary Whitey Ford. “I was not nervous, but had a little tension,” Tiant said in a 2009 documentary about his life, “Lost Son of Havana.” “You’re pitching against best team in baseball, you’re a rookie. That day was my day. They let me do what my father couldn’t do.” When Tiant started the ’68 All-Star Game, many Cubans including his father watched him on television as a Major Leaguer for the first time. By the time '69 came Tiant started to have arm problems and his ERA swelled to 3.71. In ’70, he started 6-0 for the Twins, but disaster soon struck. Tiant felt a popping sensation on a breaking ball during a start and learned that he had a broken scapula. Medical science not being what it would evolve into, doctors suggested to Tiant he would never pitch again.
We are deeply saddened by the loss of Luis Tiant.
Anyone who met him, on or off the mound, knew he was a true force. A fixture of Fenway and Fort Myers well beyond his playing days, El Tiante was family.
Cut by the Twins the day before camp broke in '71, Tiant was signed to the Braves’ Minor League system, but he was released after a month. The Red Sox signed him two days later, and it wound up being one of the best moves in club history. Still building his arm strength back up after the Red Sox recalled him from the Minors, Tiant went 1-7 with a 4.85 ERA in 21 appearances. There weren’t many expectations for Tiant entering '72, but that was the season he reinvented himself. Lacking the dazzling fastball he once had, Tiant recreated his delivery into one that nobody had ever seen before. Perhaps Joe Garagiola described it best to the NBC audience years later. “If you’re sitting in center field, you got to see his eyeballs. Look at that,” Garagiola said. There was a method to Tiant’s madness, which he explained in the documentary. “I knew I needed something different,” he said. “I had to do something so I could hide the ball better to keep me back more. It gave me more power. I changed my delivery completely.” For the Red Sox, Tiant turned into an utter force, winning 81 games in a four-season span (1973-76).
“Luis embodied everything we love about this game: resilience, passion, and an undeniable sense of belonging to something greater than himself,” said Red Sox chairman Tom Werner in a statement. “He was a cornerstone of the Red Sox pitching staff for years, with an unmatched grit and tenacity on the mound. His ability to rise in the most pressure-filled moments especially his complete-game performances cemented his place as a true legend." In '75, it all came together for Tiant, on and off the field. With relations between the United States and Cuba softening a little that year, United States Senator Edward Brooke from Massachusetts wrote a letter to Castro asking for Tiant’s parents to be permitted to fly from Cuba to Boston to see their son for the first time in 14 years. Senator George McGovern, who had already scheduled a trip to Cuba to discuss other business, hand-delivered the letter to Castro, who granted the request. In fact, Castro said that Tiant’s parents could remain in the United States for as long as they wished. Luis Sr. and Isabel Rovina Vega Tiant arrived in Boston in August 1975. Luis Jr., by then a husband and a father, wept with joy when his parents walked off the plane. One of the most emotional moments took place on Aug. 26 of that '75 season, when the Red Sox invited the elder Tiant to throw out the ceremonial first pitch on a night his son was starting against the Angels. While Luis Sr. fired a strike, his son held his dad’s sport coat from just behind the mound and beamed with pride.
We send our deepest condolences to the family, friends and fans of three-time All-Star Luis Tiant, who has passed away at 83.
Luis started three games for the @RedSox in the ‘75 World Series, with two complete games and 25.0 innings pitched. He accompanied @MLB on the 2016… pic.twitter.com/GHkwzwJvQI
The real fun started in October. Tiant started Boston’s postseason run with a Game 1 American League Championship Series shutout against an Athletics team that had won the World Series the three previous years. Then came the Fall Classic, which Tiant opened by not only firing another shutout against the heavy-hitting Reds at Fenway, but he also jump-started his team’s six-run rally in the bottom of the seventh with a lead off single followed by some of the most humorous base running of all time. On a sacrifice bunt by Dwight Evans, the throw by Johnny Bench to second was low. The bulky Tiant, wearing his warm up jacket, basically rolled over second base as the ball traveled into the short outfield. Tiant had Boston coaches, players and fans gasping for air when he started toward third, but somehow stumbled back into second safely. On an RBI single by Yaz, Tiant originally missed home plate, but then tip-toed back before the Reds could throw it back in as the park lit up with a combination of joy and laughter.
Then came the pure guts of Game 4 in Cincinnati in which the Red Sox needed a win to tie up the Series. It took a whopping 155 pitches from Tiant, but he got the job done, leading Boston to a pulsating 5-4 victory. "In my time, that's what we did we finished games," Tiant said in 2017. "My father used to tell me, 'What you start, you finish.' That's how you learned and you grew up that way. Now, it's different. They are protected more. I guess you have to because there's a lot of money involved. A lot of guys want to keep pitching but they come out." Boston’s 4-3 loss in Game 7 was heartbreaking, especially on the heels of the euphoria created by Bernie Carbo and Carlton Fisk a day earlier. It is surely no coincidence that all three victories the Red Sox had in that Fall Classic were started by Tiant. In his post-playing days, it became clear which of his teams Tiant identified most with: He settled in the Boston area and eventually opened up a Cuban food stand on the street outside Fenway Park, where he would smoke cigars and converse with fans.
Tiant also became a fixture at Red Sox Spring Training and loved to pass those days riding around the complex in a golf cart while laughing with former teammate Jim Rice. “Luis had a style of pitching that was as memorable as it was effective, but to me, the rarer gift was his ability to lift you up with just a smile,” said Red Sox president & CEO Sam Kennedy in a statement. “When you were with him, you were reminded of what really matters. Whether you were a teammate, a fan, or just someone fortunate enough to share a conversation, Luis had a way of making you feel special, like you were a close friend. "His legacy on the mound is undeniable, but all of us today are mourning the man, the friend, the mentor who connected generations of fans and players. I am gutted by the news of his passing and will miss him more than words can express. Spring Training won’t be the same without Luis’s infectious energy spreading throughout camp.” Poignantly, Tiant at last visited Cuba in 2007 during a celebration of his 67th birthday. It was there he visited family members, friends and teammates he hadn’t seen in 46 years. Many scenes from that trip were included in the '09 documentary, which originally aired on ESPN.
As he headed back to his second home of Boston after the emotional trip, Tiant offered this: “I feel better, my heart is better, my head is better. I guess I can say, I can close my book now. If I die, I die happy. Now, I’m a free man. I feel free inside of me. Full of good inside of me. That’s a feeling nobody can take away from me now.”
Has the panic button started yet liberals? Perhaps NBC News' Kristen Welker is a clear indication on how bad this VeeP debate was between JD Vance and Timmy Tampons Walz and after it's been revealed that Democrats were worried about how "likable" Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, came across during Tuesday night's CBS News Vice Presidential Debate! Things folks look a whole lot worse for our leftists comrades and like the stooge she is she must have her wig splitting over this but Welker appeared on NBC's "Today" on Wednesday and confessed Democrats had texted her mid-debate "panicked" over how Vance's performance could turn the tide on his low favorability ratings. "Sen. JD Vance clearly knew his challenge was to deal with the likability factor. The fact that in our poll, he's the second most disliked running mate in history. So I was getting texts from Democrats panicked, quite frankly, who were saying, ‘Wow, he’s really moderating himself on these issues. He’s the most likable he’s ever been,'" the "Meet the Press" host said.
Now let's look at this again! "the second most disliked running mate in history." Guess who number 1 was and still is? Kamala Harris herself when she was handed the VeeP position by Obama/Biden/Clinton and the left media mob. Vance, the Republican vice presidential nominee, faced off against Democratic nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Tuesday, at their first and likely only debate before the November election. Media critics later called the debate in Vance's favor, saying Walz appeared "unsteady" and "nervous" compared to Vance's "smooth" demeanor. However, Welker noted that Democrats saw a weakness in Vance dodging a question from Walz about whether he agreed with former President Trump's denials that he lost the 2020 election.
"Yet, that moment at the end where Gov. Walz pressed him on whether he accepts whether former President Trump lost the election and he said, ‘Let’s focus on the future’ they are going to try to make that into a flash point," Welker said. "They’re already in the process of turning that into an ad. They believe that is going to be a way to really try to appeal to that very small sliver that is still undecided, but moderate, independent, suburban voters," she continued.
Voters in a Fox News focus group showed mixed reactions to that exchange in the debate. Republicans on the Fox News Debate Dial had been unimpressed with Walz’s line of questioning and the dial went down, with the approval staying generally the same with Vance’s answers, but the dials for independents and Democrats took a sharp dive as Vance brushed off the question. It dove the sharpest among independents.
Liberal media pundits repeatedly played and discussed the clip in the debate's aftermath, saying it was one of Walz's strongest moments in a night that Vance otherwise controlled. Several media pundits still agreed that Vance won the overall debate. "Vance is going home tonight with Walz's wallet. Vance didn't even have to snatch it, Walz just handed it over, along with a bunch of unearned compliments to Vance's fine character," The Atlantic's David Frum posted on X.
"I would rate that the most successful Republican debate performance of this century, eclipsing Romney in the first debate with Obama in 2012," New York Times columnist Ross Douthat said. That friends says it all... Everything we all need to know just how golden this debate was for Ticket Trump/Vance. After all these puppets on these networks still tried to rig it to help the leftist candidates both Trump & Vance didn't allow them to railroad them in their debates. But what J.D Vance did was a master class in debate skill and tactic and like I told my dad when he worried about him being selected to run AS VP! When my dad had this worry I told him not to that he was the right guy for the job... Now my dad wants him to run for President in 2028 because he's earning our vote with each speech he does.
Kamala slammed over staged hurricane recovery photo with unplugged headphones, 'blank' paper kind of a metaphor for how this entire Biden/Harris 3rd Obama POTUS past 4 years have been. A bunch of staged lies aimed to fool our optics and make us think they care when they only care about staying in power, fooling the public, and staging photo ops to prop themselves up while they keep hurting the American people, and in turn the world because a weaken America is bad for the world as it leads to more WAR, more global instability and more poor people suffering... This is what these radicals want. They want global power, and in turn keep their Matrix of tyranny open to feeding their machine and keep it going and this picture in a small way is a great metaphor for just how fake these people all are. IF you keep voting for this once it gets much worse you have nobody to blame but yourself.
The VeeP Kamala "Mamala" Harris shared a clearly staged photo of herself from Air Force Two or as it should be called with her in it "Air Force BM # 2" but anyway as the now story shaped up again what she appears to be deep in thought like most during a good BM also immersed in work, that again is like a good old morning BM. But she has a pen in one hand, a phone in front of her, and a pair of headphones hanging from one ear. The only problem is that the paper appears blank and the wired headphones don't seem to be connected to anything. Also connection on WiFi on the presidential planes are limited for security reasons and some phones need a second connection not just the headset but another wire that makes it unhackable. Which is why MOST people like "The VP or Presidents" don't use Cell phones on these flights they have "special phones" set up for them. So nothing in this picture makes sense but in her post, Harris explains that she was "just briefed" by FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell "on the latest developments about the ongoing impacts of Hurricane Helene. We also discussed our Administration's continued actions to support emergency response and recovery," she wrote. Harris said that she spoke with North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper "about the ongoing rescue and recovery efforts in North Carolina."
How are you making calls when your headphones aren't even plugged into your phone? https://t.co/klM1o1kiKP
North Carolina was brutally battered by Hurricane Helene, which slammed into Florida's Big Bend before hitting Georgia, the Carolina's, and eastern Tennessee. In and around Asheville, NC, towns were flooded to the point of decimation, debris covers many roadways, and bridges were washed away. Drinking water is in short supply and millions are without power. With little ways to access the area, conditions and the status of many residents remains unknown. Over 1,000 are missing and the death toll is expected to continue to rise. "Our Administration will continue to stay in constant contact with state and local officials to ensure communities have the support and resources they need," Harris said.
"Doug and my thoughts are with all those who lost loved ones and those whose homes, businesses, and communities were damaged or destroyed during this disaster." Harris has been criticized for engaging in photo ops signifying work without actually doing the work. Over the weekend, she went to the Arizona border and met with Border Control, but the event was more about the photos than the meeting—at least according to Border Control. Libs of TikTok pointed out that before Harris was simply "blank paper" and that her headphones were "not plugged in," concluding "everything about Kamala is fake." "The paper is blank and the wired headphones aren’t even plugged into her phone," Greg Price said. "If you’re going to pretend you’re not AWOL as NC is under water, at least put some effort into it."
Stephen Miller noted, "She's wearing an ear phone that is not attached to phone on the desk." The Federalist's Sean Davis noted aptly that "The paper is blank, the headphones aren’t even plugged in, this was staged several days after the hurricane, and instead of actually doing anything to help anyone, she’s tweeting." The Trump campaign had fun with the photo as well, asking "How are you making calls when your headphones aren't even plugged into your phone?" When President Joe Biden delivered remarks on the hurricane on Monday morning, he said it was a "historic, history-making storm" that spanned 10 states and "devastated" communities. "We're keeping them all in our prayers," he said. He assured reporters that he would visit the areas when it was useful to do so and to "get all the help needed" to the affected areas.
FEMA head Criswell, Biden said, "is on the ground now" and will be staying in Asheville, NC. He said that "every available resource" would be provided and that "over 3,600 personnel" have been deployed. An emergency declaration was issued as well across several states. When asked why he wasn't in Washington, DC, dealing with the issues the storm had caused, Biden said "I was commanding. I was on the phone for at least two hours yesterday, and the day before as well. I command. It's called a telephone."
Disney Whistleblower Testimony ARRIVES folks and this is going to blow the roof off the courts if proven to be fact... This could bring down Disney, ABC, and everyone else involved if this Secret Audio is proven to be real. The ABC Big CONFESSION is now begging the question! IS Congress Up Next?
I don't know what's going on in the once loving mouse house but these days they really are showing connections to such twisted ideology I can't ever see myself trusting in them enough to want to go to a theme park or spend any of my money on anything Disney and this pains me as I'm a big Star Wars and Marvel fan but right there they have allowed those companies to implode slowly from within from bad ideas or management. From the looks of it Marvel is trying hard to correct itself with Paul Feige on still driving that ship but Lucasfilms has become a wasteland thanks to one Kathleene Keneddy.
Disney has bought a lot of companies in the last decade to include in the overall content as the streaming wars are on going... They own the ABC stations and news outlets and own FOX Studios also. Not the Fox News that was not sold off to Disney. But 20th Century / 21st Century FOX was sold to them. This was the main fox film and tv division.
Disney is massive and you would think being such a big company they wouldn't want to upset a large part of the nation which would cost them potentially Billions! But they seem to not listen to the fans and people as they continue to put foot in mouth. So this debate this is nothing shocking as they have allowed leftist, woke, and crazy radical people take over their companies for a long time and again this is what might be the ultimate undoing of the mouse house.
Now I do wonder if this was always the Disney design since way back when Walt Disney himself had NAZI Scientist Wernher Von Braun with him on many videos promoting the space program. Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun was a German-American aerospace engineer and space architect. He was a member of the Nazi Party and Allgemeine SS, the leading figure in the development of rocket technology in Nazi Germany, and later a pioneer of rocket and space technology in the United States.
As a young man, von Braun worked in Nazi Germany's rocket development program. He helped design and co-developed the V-2 rocket at Peenemünde during World War II. The V-2 became the first artificial object to travel into space on 20 June 1944. Following the war, he was secretly moved to the United States, along with about 1,600 other German scientists, engineers, and technicians, as part of Operation Paperclip. He worked for the United States Army on an intermediate-range ballistic missile program, and he developed the rockets that launched the United States' first space satellite Explorer 1 in 1958. He worked with Walt Disney on a series of films, which popularized the idea of human space travel in the U.S. and beyond from 1955 to 1957.
In 1960, his group was assimilated into NASA, where he served as director of the newly formed Marshall Space Flight Center and as the chief architect of the Saturn V super heavy-lift launch vehicle that propelled the Apollo spacecraft to the Moon. In 1967, von Braun was inducted into the National Academy of Engineering, and in 1975, he received the National Medal of Science.
Von Braun is a highly controversial figure widely seen as escaping justice for his Nazi war crimes due to the Americans' desire to beat the Soviets in the Cold War. He is also sometimes described by others as the "father of space travel", the "father of rocket science", or the "father of the American lunar program". He advocated a human mission to Mars.
So we will see how this whole thing with the Whistleblower works out and if this turns out to be true Disney/ABC News and a whole lot of people are going to have to answer a whole lot of questions.
LIVE: Trump and Harris presidential debate watch party
AP is live from presidential debate watch parties across the U.S. as Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump debate at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.
Enjoy these videos while we wait for the debate...
Wow this broke my heart... The voice of my favorite cinematic character of all times has passed away as we have lost the incredible Icon James Earl Jones. Not just the voice of Lord Vader but also the voice of many iconic roles. His voice was one for the ages, be it as a Lord of the Sith in "Star Wars" to King of the jungle in "The Lion King" the mans voice was one you can recognize for his voice was one for the ages. But he was more than a voice... He was a true cinema GEM, and one of the greatest actors in the history of cinema period.
Born January 17, 1931 not just an American actor of films but he was also very known for his amazing years of work in theater. He was one of thefew performers to have achieved the EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony). Jones has been described as "one of America's most distinguished and versatile" actors for his performances on stage and screen,and "one of the greatest actors in American history".
Being born In 1931 at Arkabutla, Mississippi, he had a stuttering issue since childhood. Just picture this Darth Vader with a stuttering issue! But some would shy away from public speaking due to this curse it wasn't something James Earl Jones would do as he said that poetry and acting helped him overcome the challenges of his disability. A pre-medmajor in college, he served in the United States Army during the Korean War before pursuing a career in acting.
From the age of five, Jones was raised by his maternal grandparents, John Henry and Maggie Connolly, on their farm in Dublin, Michigan; they had moved from Mississippi in the Great Migration. Where Jones found the transition to living with his grandparents in Michigan traumatic and developed a stutter so bad that he refused to speak. He said, "I was a stutterer. I couldn't talk. So my first year of school was my first mute year, and then those mute years continued until I got to high school." He credits his English teacher, Donald Crouch, who discovered he had a gift for writing poetry, with helping him end his silence. Crouch urged him to challenge his reluctance to speak through reading poetry aloud to the class.
Jones graduated from Dickson Rural Agricultural School In 1949 (now Brethren High School) in Brethren, Michigan, where he served as vice president of his class. He attended the University of Michigan, where he was initially a pre-medmajor. He joined the Reserve Officers' Training Corps and excelled. He felt comfortable within the structure of the military environment and enjoyed the camaraderie of his fellow cadets in the Pershing Rifles Drill Team and Scabbard and Blade Honor Society. After his junior year, he focused on drama with the thought of doing something he enjoyed, before, he assumed, he would have to go off to fight in the Korean War. After four years of college, Jones graduated from the university in 1955 with a Bachelor of Arts with a major in drama.
At his own request, Jones was uncredited for the release of the first two Star Wars films, though he would be credited for the third film and eventually also for the first film's 1997 "Special Edition" re-release.
As he explained in a 2008 interview: When Linda Blair did the girl in The Exorcist, they hired Mercedes McCambridge to do the voice of the devil coming out of her. And there was controversy as to whether Mercedes should get credit. I was one who thought no, she was just special effects. So when it came to Darth Vader, I said, no, I'm just special effects.But it became so identified that by the third one, I thought, OK I'll let them put my name on it.
In 1977, Jones also received a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Great American Documents. In late 1979, Jones appeared on the short-lived CBS police drama Paris, which was notable as the first program on which Steven Bochco served as executive producer. Jones also starred that year in the critically acclaimed TV mini-series sequel Roots: The Next Generations as the older version of author Alex Haley.
The year 1987 saw Jones starring inAugust Wilson's playFencesas Troy Maxson, a middle aged working class father who struggles to provide for his family. The play, set in the 1950's, is part of Wilson's ten-part "Pittsburgh Cycle". The play explores the evolvingAfrican Americanexperience and examinesrace relations, among other themes. Jones won widespread critical acclaim, earning himself his secondTony Award for Best Actor in a Play.
