Photoshop Phriday: Dhani Jones
What do I have in common with this week’s Photoshop Phriday player, Dhani Jones? We are both Michigan alums and played a varsity sport at Churchill High School. Granted I mostly rode the bench on the baseball team while Jones was a standout football player, but those are minor details. Jones enrolled at Michigan about 20 years before me and was a linebacker on the football team from 1996-2000. He was a starter for three years (including the 1997 Nationals Championship team) and each of those seasons earned All Big Ten honors. After a 10 year NFL career Jones retired from football but remained active in many other ventures.
During his last two seasons in the NFL he devoted time to filming Dhani Tackles the Globe, a show that aired on the Travel Channel. He is exceptionally involved in charity work and is best known for his Bow Tie Cause. After a friend who loves bow ties was diagnosed with cancer, Jones started a line of bow ties that are each specially designed for a charitable cause. A portion of each purchase is then donated to that charity. During my senior year while giving a campus tour on the front steps of the Michigan Union Dhani walked by my group. I excitedly called out to say hello and he stopped briefly to talk with my group (among other things he proudly declared “I used to run this school!”). I soon realized that unfortunately not too many people in my group knew who he was but it definitely was one of the more memorable of the 300-some campus tours I gave. I was about as giddy as Dhani was when he found this giant sourdough loaf with bacon and caramelized shallots.
