CINCINNATI — Cincinnati College Preparatory Academy senior Petey Jones seems to always be accompanied by a smile.
The nose tackle and left guard prefers to approach every morning with joy despite unimaginable family loss in middle school.
“Petey is a special kid,” CCPA football coach Jeff Cargile said. “He’s had so much adversity in his life at a young age, but he’s fought through. Just an amazing, amazing young man.”
Jones, 17, is grateful for school staff members who supported him in his time of great need.
“My dad (Randolph Jones) passed when I was in sixth grade,” Jones said. “And then my mom (Bridgette Donnelley) passed when I was in eighth grade. And a few months after my mom passed, my sister (Maronique Sanders) passed in a house fire we were both in.”
Jones underwent therapy and leaned on others at CCPA, a school he’s attended since kindergarten.
Ryan Holdren, who was his middle school social studies teacher, is a longtime assistant football coach and now an assistant principal. Holdren offered Jones a place to stay. The two shared meals and conversations.
“I feel like he came into my life like an angel from God,” Jones said.
Eventually, Holdren received custody of Jones on Feb. 17, 2022.
“That’s a testament to Coach Holdren, too,” Cargile said. “I mean a young single guy — he didn’t have to do that.”
When Holdren married CCPA Elementary School teacher Caitlin Dates in July 2022, the family exuded happiness.
Jones smiled in a photo taken with Holdren and Dates on the wedding day. That year the couple had no doubt Jones would be a part of their family.
“I didn’t even ask my wife,” Holdren recalled. “She told me. She was like, ‘He’s coming to live with us.’ One of the greatest kids you’ll ever meet. It was a really easy decision for us.”
Cargile has told Holdren, CCPA's quarterbacks coach, how significant it’s been to see Jones live with the family in Deer Park. The couple welcomed a son, Everett, 10 months ago.
“I tell him (Holdren) all the time how much I appreciate him and how much I look up to him as a young man who would do that for another kid,” Cargile said. “A kid that’s not related to him — again he didn’t have to do that. It’s just great how that relationship and that bond has grown over the years.”
Cargile, who has coached high school football since 1986, said Jones has been an example of strength for everyone at school. Jones, the Lions’ leading tackler, was a Division VII second team all-state offensive lineman in 2023.
“In all my years of coaching football he’s probably my most favorite kid I’ve ever been around,” Cargile said.
He said that with a bigger perspective in mind, he has learned to persevere from Jones. Cargile’s mother, Novella Cargile, died in February.
“Every time I get sad about it I just look over at Petey with that smile on his face and I just think about what he’s lost at such a young age, and it kind of snaps me back really well,” Cargile said. “He probably doesn’t know but he’s helping me. “When you lose someone important in your life you know you’re going to miss them but to know that you can still go on in your daily life and still achieve great things, he’s really helped me with that.”
Jones said from a young age he’s always tried to smile and help others.
“I’ve always been the happy, outgoing person,” Jones said. “I don’t like being sad or yelling all the time. I feel like nobody should be like that all the time.”
That mentality has helped Jones succeed beyond football. He is among the top academic achievers in his class with a 4.1 grade-point average. He is also president of the National Honor Society.
“If this kid can make it through what he went through, none of us really have an excuse to not really do our best and come in the right way every single day,” Holdren said.
Jones wants to continue his football career in college and study nursing at a Historically Black College and University (HBCU). He also has plans of giving back to CCPA including gifting resources for a new football field one day.
“CCPA is a big family,” Jones said. “I would like to eventually get big enough where I can give back to the community. Give back to CCPA because they’ve done a lot for me and give back to the people that have helped me when the stuff happened to me growing up. I feel like my path could’ve went a totally different way. But, I had a lot of good people in my life to keep me on track, to keep me doing what I’m supposed to do.”
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