Sam “Chicken” Jones is one of the area’s most highly respected football officials.

Actually, when you consider he’s worked — between Ohio and West Virginia — four state title games, 11 state semi-final games and more than 70 tournament games, the respect he’s earned comes from a bigger area than just the Ohio Valley.

When you couple Jones’s officiating prowess and his 10 years of experience as an athletic administrator at Buckeye Local High School, it made him the choice to take over as the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference’s Football Commissioner, effective Wednesday afternoon when the conference’s Executive Board approved the hiring.

“I am very emotional and excited about this opportunity,” Jones said. “My phone was blowing up (Wednesday) with people congratulating me, and I truly appreciate that, but I am ready to get started. I know football is king in the Ohio Valley and this is a big job, and I am going to do my best.”

Jones takes over for Doug Costain, who shifted duties last month. Costain had been hired as the football commissioner in December, but was named the basketball commissioner a few weeks ago.

Actually, Costain had pegged Jones as one of his assistant commissioners. However, it wasn’t until the OVAC approved a change to a long-existing rule that the commissioners in both football and basketball couldn’t officiate games that Jones decided to pursue the job.

“I had applied (in the winter), but I pulled my name when they said the commissioner wasn’t allowed to officiate,” Jones admitted. “Then when I got a little taste of the job from working with Doug and the OVAC changed the rule, I decided to apply again.”

Jones has been a football official for 34 years and has spent 23 years as a crew chief. Actually, he credits former OVAC Football Commissioner Don Zinni for getting him interested in the officiating aspect of the sport.

“When I was a young official, Don and I were good friends and someone I really looked up to,” Jones said. “He took me to games, showed me different things and really got me into watching the officials. It just really meant a lot to me and my career, and now I feel like I am kind of following in his footsteps.”

Prior to Costain’s hiring as the football commissioner, Dave Clutter had held the post. He took over for Zinni. Actually, Jones becomes just the ninth football commissioner in the OVAC’s illustrious history.

“There are some big shoes to fill because there have been some great commissioners throughout the years,” Jones said.

Jones takes over at a time when there is a nation-wide problem with a shortage in officials. The Ohio Valley is not immune to that either.

“It’s going to be an ongoing process to recruit officials,” Jones said. “There is such a shortage and therefore a demand for young, athletic people who we can train. Officiating is an opportunity to have some fun, remain involved in the sport and make some money.”

While the search for new officials and efforts to retain current ones is continual, Jones and his newly hired assistant commissioner Ricky Moore, will be issuing officiating assignments for the 2022 season in the coming weeks.

“Very few assignments have been sent out,” Jones confirmed. “All of them are on the drawing board, but we will be sending them out shortly. My philosophy is to assign the best officials available on any given night.”

Along with the assigning of officials, Jones will also work diligently with the member schools, be involved with the OVAC All-Star Game and handle the day-to-day dealings with the sport.

“Dealing with the officials, schools and even Arbiter is like a combination of both of my jobs at school and my love of officiating,” Jones said. “So, when the job description was posted, I felt like (the job) just had my name on it.”

Though Jones is allowed and will still be quite visible on the field on Friday and Saturdays in the Ohio Valley, he does plan to work fewer games.

“Though there’s no way I feel like I can come off the field, I am going to tone it down, so I am able to spend more time evaluating officials and crews,” Jones said. ”

On top of his duties as a football officials, Jones has been a baseball official for 20 seasons and worked the Ohio State Tournament last spring. He’s also coached during his career at Buckeye Local, which started in 1997.