The first-ever John Jones Award has been presented in the Bethlehem Area School District.

It was created to be awarded to a Liberty High School senior in memory of 2020 Liberty alumnus John P. Jones. It recognizes an active member, like Jones was, of the athletics and music programs at Liberty.

The winner of the 2023 award, named Friday, is Jack Huie. It comes with a $1,000 scholarship, hand-blown glass piece created by Liberty art teacher Beth McFadden and a quirky pair of socks in honor of Jones’ own prized collection.

The award is sponsored and presented by the Liberty High School Band and Orchestra Parents Club, Liberty Athletic Club and Jones’s family.

Jones was a life-long swimmer who worked as an instructor, coach and lifeguard at the Bethlehem YMCA and Northwest Swim Club in Bethlehem. Throughout his school career, he also participated in basketball, track and field, and football, as well as marching, concert and jazz band, orchestra and world percussion. He was inducted into the National Honor Society at Liberty and was a dean’s list student at Temple University, where he was a junior at the time he died last Oct. 13 from complications of Type 1 diabetes, according to his obituary.

By Kurt Bresswein 

Story by Lehigh Valley Live