ALUMNI IN ACTION
On the Call: Sophia Jones Parlays SJSU Experience into Broadcast Career in WNBA
By Michelle Smith McDonald, '90 Journalism
ALUMNI IN ACTION
On the Call: Sophia Jones Parlays SJSU Experience into Broadcast Career in WNBA
By Michelle Smith McDonald, '90 Journalism
Sophia Jones, ’24 Radio-Television-Film, is finding her place in the family business.
The former San José State women’s basketball player completed her first season as the radio voice of the Golden State Valkyries, the WNBA franchise that made its Bay Area debut as the league’s first expansion team in 17 years last spring.
Jones served as the color analyst on the team’s radio broadcasts, bringing her own playing experience and perspectives to the broadcast, not to mention the pedigree of being part of one of the first families of sports broadcasting.
Her father, Mark Jones, is a longtime ESPN and ABC broadcaster, covering the NBA and college football. He is the play-by-play voice of the NBA’s Sacramento Kings for NBC Sports California and has called NBA Finals games that included the Golden State Warriors. His older brother Paul is the radio play-by-play voice for the Toronto Raptors.
“It never really dawned on me that she might want to get into journalism and sports and television,” Mark Jones said in an article in the New York Times in 2023. “It should have been more obvious, I guess, now that I look back.”
Sophia Jones. Photo: SJSU Athletics.
Sophia Jones participated in a pregame broadcast for the Sacramento Kings in 2021.
Jones’ experience as a student-athlete at SJSU led her into her career by choice and necessity.
Injuries as a player sidelined Jones, giving her the time and space to hone her broadcasting skills. Jones was able to call women’s basketball games on the Mountain West network as a player while she was rehabbing her injuries at SJSU and was also afforded the opportunity to call a women’s basketball game for NBC Sports Bay Area with her father in 2023.
A year ago, Jones served as the broadcast voice of the University of San Francisco women’s basketball games and was a sideline reporter for USF men’s games.
“I knew from elementary school that I wanted to be a sports broadcaster,” Jones says. “I thought my dad’s job was the coolest thing in the world. Once I got to San José State, I was able to start making decisions about what I wanted my career to look like. I was able to explore different avenues of broadcasting and find the roles that I enjoyed.”
Jones, who grew up in Miami, Florida, came to San José State for a basketball camp as a high school player and decided she wanted to return for her college career.
“I wanted to try something different and I loved California,” Jones says. “I liked the city and the style of play and the basketball program. It was a fit for me.”
But her basketball experience was initially derailed by COVID and injuries. During her freshman season in 2020-2021, the team temporarily relocated out of California due to the restrictions put in place by Santa Clara County Public Health, and then a knee injury ended her season prematurely.
In her sophomore season, “COVID ran rampant through our team” as she worked her way back into the lineup. And then in her junior year, she was injured again, this time tearing a ligament in her other knee. By the time her senior season rolled around, she was still recovering and a bout with COVID caused her significant breathing issues that limited her time on the floor.
“My experience as an athlete was unfortunately mostly in the training room,” Jones said. “But it forced me to look at the game from a different perspective. I felt different about how I saw the game, the intricacies of it, and I understood the value of the work off the court that you need to put in before you actually step on to the court.”
Jones played point guard in 2022. Photo: SJSU Athletics.
Her basketball career at SJSU was cut short due to injuries and the COVID-19 pandemic. Photo: SJSU Athletics.
Her limited time on the floor also allowed her to get a head start on her career. In addition to her classes, she gained experience participating on a Golden State Warriors podcast, and as a freshman at SJSU, she participated in the Sacramento Kings’ first all-female and non-binary broadcast as a sideline reporter.
Jones said that as much as she has enjoyed her work as an analyst and a sideline reporter, the production side of broadcasting appeals to her as well.
“Some of the classes I took at San José State were more production-based and I really found myself enjoying the process of being behind the camera and being kind of an orchestrator,” says Jones, ever the point guard.
Getting the opportunity to broadcast a game with her father at a San José State women’s game in 2023 is a moment she will carry forever. The person she always talked sports with was now in her ear, helping to lay a blueprint for her future.
“I would always see him doing his thing on TV, and when we got to call the game together, it made me realize how much work he puts in,” Jones says. “I was like, ‘Oh, you’re actually pretty good at this.’”
Something her father can now say about her as she begins her professional broadcast career.
“Some of the classes I took at San José State were more production-based and I really found myself enjoying the process of being behind the camera and being kind of an orchestrator,” says Jones, ever the point guard.
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