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Keith Jones was a 2007 graduate of Jennings Senior High where he made his mark in the building as student leader, football and track student athlete and Lady Warrior basketball manager.   Keith Jones’ served the JV and Varsity football team as a valuable offensive guard and defensive tackle during his four years at Jennings.  Keith also served Coach Theresa Humble (Kackley) as a team manager during the 2005 State final four run by our girls program.
As offensive lineman rarely get the recognition they deserve, it was Keith’s leadership skills that set him above any 100 yard rushing performance or double digit TDs in a season.   Keith Jones was a student athlete who made everyone around him BETTER.  Keith Jones will tell you that the football Warriors go to play during his entire duration as a starter was the 32 counter dive.  When the Warriors were in a tough spot they would call this play for the nearly guaranteed first down.   Keith Jones does want to give Travis Brewer credit for assisting on dominating line play with this call as well.  Keith gives a lot of credit to teammate Chris Current for making him better (and also making Chris better) as they battled nearly every day in practice.
Keith noted that his biggest defensive play of his career was in the final seconds of the Jennings AT Ladue game on October 14th, 2006 where Ladue was going for a 2 point conversion to when the game.   Keith claims that he earned a double team block, freeing up Byron “B-Mac” Gather for the immediate stop on the line of scrimmage.  The Warriors beat Ladue for the first time in school history on this day.
Coach Darryl Williams gave Keith Jones a lot of credit in saying “teams dont work without Jones….he is a huge piece to our success”.
In addition to being what Keith became on the field, he was the team manager for the Girls basketball team, which included stat keeping as well as cameraman for plenty of other HOF members including Maria bratcher, Breenae Washington, Oshun Ashae, and the 2005 HOF basketball team.  Keith Jones is pictured with the team on the HOF website.
Lastly, Keith was coached by the late great Carl Allen, who Keith claimed Coach Allen used to call him “Ryan’s boy” all the time because he had the utmost respect for him as a player and young man.  Keith said Coach Allen saw the greatness in him, and always pushed him.
Keith Jones went on to play football and graduate from Missouri Valley College.  Keith went in to education and coached highschool football at Marshall High School in Marshall Mo and eventually moved to Columbia MO, where he began coaching youth football where he won a recent championship.

Keith Jones with Coach Carl Allen

Keith Jones graduation at Missouri Valley College

Keith Jones (bottom left) with the rest of the senior 2006-07 Warriors.

John (Sunshine) Schlereth Jr. (2008) played football and baseball for three years for Jennings High School.  John has Varsity letters for Football (2 years)  Baseball (3 years)  and for Basketball (1 year for filming the games).   In football John was an SEC All-Conference Football in 2006 and 2007 defense (Punter), Second Team All-Metro 2007 defense (Punter) and All-State 4A First Team Punter.  John was an integral part of one of the best football seasons in the history of the school ….and not all with his leg as he also threw a 85 yard touchdown pass on a fake punt in one of the biggest playoff games in the history of the program.
In baseball John was a three time SEC All-Conference player.  In 2008 John was runner up for the player of the year.  In 2008 John won 6 games pitching and had a .545 batting average with 34 RBIs and 1 home run. His batting average lead all North County High Schools 2008. During the summers in High School John played CYC and SLABA baseball for the Stallions.  After High School graduation John went to Flo. Valley played 2 years as a relief pitcher.   After Junior college had played on an independent team sponsored by Nelly called the “Black Sox” in the St. Louis Men’s Amateur Baseball League.   John came back to Jennings to assist Coach Hash for few years coaching the Jennings High school baseball team, he also coached during the summer a CYC team (that had Jennings players on it) with Coach Anthony Stovall in a CYC high school league for few years.   John went on to coach the St. Louis Sting, but eventually stopped coaching due to other work and now is Married to Chelsie Lee and they have a one year old daughter named Jamesyn.
John was such a fun loving, enthusiastic teammate during his years as a student athlete at Jennings.   He did so much more for the school outside of his awesome awards he achieved while at JSH.

 

Coach Carl Allen was born in Hattiesburg MS on December 21st 1955.  Carl became an outstanding athlete in the game of football and earned a scholarship to the University City of Southern Mississippi.    He was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in the 11th round of the 1977 NFL Draft as a defensive back, but played his entire career with the St. Louis Cardinals. In the Mid-80s, Coach Allen left the NFL for the new USFL league that was luring and enticing NFL players to join them.   After a few years with the USFL (Houston Gamblers), Coach Allen retired from the game and came back to St. Louis where he eventually came to the Jennings School District where he served as the junior high in school suspension supervisor and physical education teacher.  Coach Allen served as the quarterback and defensive backs.   After 5 district championships and the first non-co conference championship (2006), Coach Allen stepped away from coach in 2012.  Coach served the junior high for 7 more years and retired in the 2020 school year.

Coach Allen passed away on March 31st of 2021.   He was loved by so many students and student athletes….especially the defensive backs that he coached at Jennings Senior High.  Coach Allen was known to excessively use the word “DUDE”.   All of us at Jennings certainly will miss our favorite teacher, coach and dude.  Coach Allen is survived by his sons Mike and Vincent and his daughters Carla and Monika (pictured below at the JSH memorial service for their dad).

 

Jack Karl (1994 retiree) was a Jennings faculty legend who worked some 20+ years for the school district.  Jack Karl was said to be a student and faculty favorite during his years teaching social studies and coaching football at JSH.  Unfortunately shortly after his retirement, Jack Karl passed away but the love of his work…..his time at Jennings will never be forgotten by so many faculty and students that came through Jennings Senior High.

(for more information on Jack Karl, please contact AD Wallace at wallacer@jenningsk12.org)

Mike Heard (2008) was a long time Jennings School District product who excelled in sports as well as in the classroom.  Mike Heard was what some would consider an incredible leader who led by his actions on the football field, track and in the hallways.  During Mike’s high school football career, he was amongst some of the best football student-athletes the school had registered at one time.  A talented running back, Mike Heard was a part of the “three headed monster” backfield with Frank “The Truth” Williams, and Darryl “Scoop” Grady.  Each one of those young men had the potential to break season and even career rushing records, but they unselfishly shared the ball, making their team of that time one of the best (if not the best) in the schools history.  Mike suffered a leg injury his senior year, but the presence of his leadership remained for his peers and coaches.  Mike claims that his proudest moment at Jennings was being a student athlete who excelled on the football field as well as in the classroom being a consistent honor roll student and creating lifelong friendships.   Mike Heard went on to Missouri State University where he got back on the football field for a season before hanging up the gear to concentrate on his degree and eventual graduation in 2013.  Mike Heard is living in Charlotte North Carolina and working in finance for a major brokerage firm.  Mike Heard’s favorite quote is “Life is for living, not living uptight” -Jay Z.

 

Mike Heard scores the only touchdown in the 6-0 win at Berkeley in 2007.

Mike with JSH alum brother James Heard at homecoming 2015

Aaron Lowe was a three sport student-athlete/Salutatorian for the Jennings Senior High Class of 2003.   Aaron earned All-Conference basketball honors, All State Track and Field and All State in football.    It was football, along with an incredible grade point average, that landed him a scholarship to attend and play football for Truman State University where he majored in biology and pre-med.  After graduating Truman in 2008, Aaron continued playing Semi-Pro football for the St. Louis Bulldogs while being an engineer at Boeing.   Aaron earned a masters in Global Supply Chain Management in 2020.  Aaron is married to his wife Felecia and they have 5 children: Daughters Aaliyah, Aanaston, Aavien, and  sons Aavier and Aavien.

The Hendersons with best friend and Jennings grad Aaron Lowe

Lowe with the St. Louis Bulldogs semi-pro football team

Todd Jordan (2009) became a standout student athlete through his years at JSH.  Todd played cornerback for the football program as well as catcher for the baseball program.  Todd stated that most of his memories at Jennings came from the old practice field (grass area to the west of the campus).   Todd’s proudest accomplishment was being a part of the 2006 conference and district champion football team.  He believes that team, that season, could’ve been made into a movie.  Todd racked up many awards while at JSH including honor roll, team captain, and 2nd team all conference in back to back years.
After Jennings, Todd went on to Quincy University on a football scholarship where he was named the freshman of the year in 2009.  In 2010, Todd was named Defensive captain, which he held to 2013.  Todd earned 2nd team all conference honors while at Quincy and after graduating, he went on to play professional football in Brazil for 3 years.  Todd Jordan has mentioned his old DB coach Carl Allen as his initial inspiration in continuing improving in the game of football and moving to the next level.
Todd is currently teaching English as well as the offensive coordinator at Lely High in Naples Florida and has worked in radio broadcasting/podcasting as well.  Look for Todd’s rado show called “CoolAzz Saturday’s” at coolassradio.com and his podcast called “Crazy but True”.

 

Todd after his last home game at Quincy U

Todd with former J town teammates and Coach Wallace at Quincy U.

Deshaun Cooper (2009) became an instant Warrior legend by not just being a 3 sport student-athlete at JSH, but also by his positive peer leadership while at JSH.  One of Deshaun’s biggest memories at Jennings was hitting a game winning bucket in a district championship game.  Deshaun earned All-State honors, Conference player of the year for basketball, along with all conference awards for football.  Deshaun was as honor roll student as well, and earned a scholarship to Northwest Missouri State where he became quite the fan favorite as he dominated the MIAA conference and led NW Mo State to a conference championship.  Deshaun claims that the nomination into the Jennings Virtual Trophy Case/Hall of Fame is one of his proudest accomplishments, yet he is still prospering in basketball and life.  Currently Deshaun is playing professional basketball in Europe and is president of the non-profit organization “Tru-Vision” which mentors youth student-athletes.

 

Robert Dabney (1984) is known to several hundred JSH alumni and faculty to be one of the most talented Warrior football AND basketball athletes to walk the halls at Jennings Senior High.  Dabney was a member of the 1983 Conference Co-Champ Warrior football team as well as a member of the 1983-84 State final four basketball team.  Dabney earned several athletic awards in both sports while at Jennings.  After graduating JSH, Robert went on to Triton Junior College in Illinois where he made such a name for himself on the football field that he earned a scholarship to play Division I football at Iowa State University.  Dabney became a main stay on the Cyclone defense where he played Defensive End before graduating from Iowa State in 1989.  (More info on Robert Dabney coming soon).

 

Dabney pictured top row (3rd player from right) in the 1984 State Bball picture

The infamous 1984 team trophy pic that was completely bleached by the sun in the breezway hallway. Few members of this team hold a good copy like this one. (Dabney bottom right under Coach Hal Moore)

Robert Dabney in his senior year for the Cyclones at Iowa State

 

Larry Minner (1984) rose to a legendary Warrior status being an integral part of an amazing student-athlete population in the early 80’s.   Larry excelled at football and track as he was a part of several successful football teams (3 Varsity letters) and holds the schools discus record in track (4 Varsity letters).   The 1983 football team, which is featured in this trophy case, was the first football team at JSH to be a conference champion.  Larry claims this to be one of his fondest memories at JSH “although we had to share the title with Berkeley, it was a great accomplishment.”  Larry’s proudest accomplishment was when he broke the school record in the discus his senior year……and this record still stands today (153’11)!   After Jennings, Larry Minner received a partial scholarship to attend Benedictine College in Atchisson KS where he was a 3 year starter from sophomore to senior year.  In Larry’s Senior year (1987) he was unanimously voted NAIA 1st Team All-American at DT.   Larry was the 1st defensive player ever in the school history to be 1st team AA in football.  For 3 years Larry Minner led the team in tackle for losses & sacks.  He finished his senior year with 89 tackles (71 unassisted), 13 TFL, & 10 sacks………….a career total of 236 tackles, 59 TFL, 25 sacks, 4 fumble rec, & 1 pass block.   Possible the biggest stat of all was that Larry Minner was  the first African American to be named 1st Team All American in football at Benedictine College.

Larry Minner is currently a compliance consultant at Wells Fargo advisors and also the Head Track Coach at Westminster Christian Academy..  What a Warrior legend.

JSH Football awards of Larry Minner:
1984 Senior
1st Team All Conference at DT & 2nd Team All Conference at OT
1st Team North All District at DT
3rd Team All-Metro at DT
St. Louis American Small Schools 1st Team All-American at DT

The 1983 Conf. Co-Champs