Depleted Lakers routed by the hot shooting Spurs

By Mark Lamport Stokes

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) It was the worst possible combination for the Los Angeles Lakers as their injury depleted line up ran into a scintillating shooting display by the San Antonio Spurs in a lop sided Game Three on Friday.

With the ailing Lakers missing their top four guards they were pounded 120 89 on their home court by the second seeded Spurs to slip 3 0 behind in their best of seven first round playoff series.

All Star forward Tim Duncan scored a game high 26 points on 12 of 16 shooting for San Antonio and guard Tony Parker weighed in with 20 as Los Angeles fell to their biggest home playoff loss in franchise history.

Parker and Duncan had great games Lakers head coach Mike D'Antoni told reporters after his team had been outshot by a staggering 61 percent to 43 from the field sending the home fans streaming for the exits well before the end of the game.

Duncan was phenomenal. I thought our guys played as hard as they could play but they ran out of gas toward the end. Times are tough right now.

Pau (Gasol) and Dwight (Howard)... they were trying the best that they could do. Nobody likes it and nobody's happy but I don't fault the effort of the guys or the will that they want to do it.

Gasol completed his first playoff triple double with 11 points 13 rebounds and 10 assists and Howard added 25 points and 11 rebounds but the severely depleted Lakers line up was always likely to struggle.

With the inspirational Kobe Bryant gone for the season after Achilles tendon surgery Steve Nash sidelined with back and hip problems Steve Blake ruled out indefinitely with a strained right hamstring and Jodie Meeks missing due to a sprained left ankle the Lakers were scrambling for guards.

OFF THE PACE

Though the relatively inexperienced Darius Morris with 24 points and Andrew Goudelock with 20 fared surprisingly well after being elevated into the starting lineup Los Angeles were unable to keep pace with the four time NBA champion Spurs.

We're extremely short handed Gasol said. We've been murdered by injuries and it's tough to overcome that.

Game Four is back at the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles on Sunday and Spaniard Gasol knows the Lakers will have to produce something special if they are to keep the playoff series alive.

We'll see Sunday how much fight we have in us in order to give ourselves a chance and not have another 30 point loss at home he said. It's going to take a collective effort.

We have three consecutive losses to a team that's feeling more confident and more comfortable and will try to put us away Sunday and close the series. Our backs are against the wall.

For their part the Spurs will once again aim to show the injury hit Lakers no mercy as they bid to compete a series sweep.

I think we're playing fairly well San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said. Every coach thinks they can play better that's what we do. We're always looking for ways to improve.

Whether the team you're playing is whole or banged up like the Lakers obviously are the team on court still wants to win.

We have to bring the energy and the professionalism to play. We've all been in situations where we've lost games when the other side is missing players. The intensity is so high already that everybody is pretty focused.

(Editing by John O'Brien)

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49ers gamble on running back Marcus Lattimore USA Today

Running back Marcus Lattimore impressed NFL scouts during South Carolina's pro day on March 27.(Photo Jeff Blake USA TODAY Sports)

Former South Carolina running back Marcus Lattimore has vowed that his two surgically repaired knees will be ready by opening day.

I feel like personally I need three more months before I put some pads on Lattimore told USA TODAY Sports on a trip to New York during draft week.

I know my body. I know when I'll be ready to play. It takes time I know but at the beginning of the season I feel like I should be ready to go.

But here's the thing Because Lattimore was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers in the fourth round Sunday he won't have to be ready.

The Niners have a solid running game with Frank Gore and Kendall Hunter so Lattimore taken with the 131st pick of the draft can take his time. He could start the season on the physically unable to perform list and eventually land on injured reserve all while learning from the guys in front of him. There's no rush to play.

The NFC champion Niners with a glut of draft picks and the talent to get back to the Super Bowl could afford to take a flier on the South Carolina running back who had his anterior cruciate lateral collateral and posterior cruciate ligaments fixed by surgeon James Andrews on Nov. 2.

It was Lattimore's second serious knee injury in two years.

The Niners appear to be stocking up on recuperating talent also drafting former Florida State defensive end/outside linebacker Tank Carradine who is recovering from a torn ACL. Like Lattimore Carradine taken in the second round could start the season inactive too. But with one of the NFL's best defenses what's the hurry

In the meantime Lattimore can dream of one day running behind one of the league's premier offensive lines not that anyone is doubting he could actually be ready by opening week.

When Lattimore demonstrated his knees at South Carolina's pro day on March 27 he ran several drills in the school's weight room and training area and when he was finished received an ovation from NFL scouts in attendance.

Lattimore had an inkling the Niners would take him. He said the St. Louis Rams New England Patriots Philadelphia Eagles and 49ers had shown the most interest in him during the predraft process.

PHOTOS Marcus Lattimore's career

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Shorthanded loss leaves Lakers with many questions

San Antonio Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES Andrew Goudelock a 24 year old guard who came to the Lakers starting lineup by way of Sioux Falls and Rio Grande Valley sat in front of his locker reminiscing about the days when he was broke in the Development League and had to beg his girlfriend for money so he could afford groceries. Those hardscrabble days it turns out were less than a month ago. Goudelock signed with the Lakers in April and still hasn't received an NBA paycheck. This is what it has come to for the NBA's flagship franchise which began the season with a backcourt of Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash and is ending it with Goudelock and Darius Morris neither of whom has ever averaged more than 4.4 points in the NBA. When Mike D'Antoni was asked which one of his unknown quantities would handle the ball in Game 3 against the Spurs the coach went with Morris because he knows the plays. Yes a team with a $100 million payroll and four future Hall of Famers is at the stage where they're satisfied just to have somebody who knows the plays.

The Lakers tragicomedy is nearing a merciful conclusion. The latest act started with an earthquake centered 20 miles away in Marina Del Rey and ended with the worst home playoff loss in club history. The Spurs routed them Friday at Staples Center 120 89 with Kobe Bryant and his crutches in attendance.

I know it's tough for him to watch us play said Lakers forward Earl Clark. He won't have to endure it much longer. The Spurs are ideally positioned to sweep the Lakers on Sunday and eventually reach the Finals for the first time since 2007. With Oklahoma City point guard Russell Westbrook out indefinitely because of a torn meniscus in his right knee a path has opened for several Western Conference contenders but the clearing is widest for the Spurs. They match up favorably with every team in the West except Oklahoma City who ousted them in six games last season and now the Thunder is severely shorthanded. If the current iteration of the Spurs can't make the Finals this year when they don't have to deal with Westbrook it's hard to imagine when they will.

We're playing fairly well said San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich which for him constitutes high praise. In Game 1 the Spurs were sparked by Manu Ginobili. In Game 2 they were led by Tony Parker. In Game 3 it was Tim Duncan completing the trinity. Tiago Splitter sprained his ankle but he should have about a week to heal. The Spurs shot 61 percent Friday and turned Staples Center into a protest site with the predictable We want Phil chants starting early in the fourth quarter.

The season will soon end for the Lakers but the drama won't. They will move on to a summer stocked with questions starting with the most pressing whether Dwight Howard will re sign. Howard enjoyed his time in Los Angeles even though it was monumentally disappointing and the Lakers can offer him one more year and $25 million more than any other club. But he will be a free agent July 1 and given the Lakers age record and lack of financial flexibility or draft picks he will undoubtedly examine other options. After the emergence of James Harden Houston probably represents the biggest threat to pry Howard away.

Howard demonstrated in Orlando that he is willing to use his leverage for a power play. Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak claimed D'Antoni will return but Howard is far more integral to the organization's future and they will appease him where they can. Howard has made clear he would love to play for Phil Jackson and if the Zen Man can be coaxed back to Staples Center the Lakers would also want to keep Pau Gasol because he is such a crucial element of the triangle offense. Barring that far fetched scenario though it's unlikely this core is kept intact. The Lakers are willing to spend for a champion but loath to pay $100 million plus a putative luxury tax for a first round flop. Gasol makes up nearly 20 percent of the payroll. Assuming Howard re signs Gasol could be a steal for another team seeking low post help. Again the Rockets are a logical landing spot considering they already acquired Gasol once in the three way Chris Paul blockbuster that was vetoed by the league office.

The coach and the system will help determine the personnel. D'Antoni was hired largely to maximize point guard Steve Nash the only player under contract beyond next season but if D'Antoni goes and the Lakers want to clear the books then Nash's fate becomes uncertain as well. Now 39 and plagued by leg injuries Nash would be even more difficult to move than Gasol but he can still shoot and is capable of reinventing himself the same way Jason Kidd did.

This season was a bust for the Lakers and regardless of their transactions next season probably will be as well. The Lakers' greatest asset is their potential for total flexibility in the summer of 2014 when several high profile free agents can opt out and hit the market. They need Howard around in part to act as a lure.

The Lakers have not yet deployed the amnesty clause and they could solve many of their economic woes by using it on Bryant. But that requires Bryant to miss all of next season with his torn Achilles tendon. More likely he returns by New Year's and the amnesty is preserved or spent on Metta World Peace. The Lakers need more youth more athleticism and more outside shooting. They're not going to be able to solve their problems in one off season. They might however solve them in two.

The Lakers have little in common with San Antonio but if they wanted to follow the Spurs' blueprint they could always stay the course make subtle tweaks and come back in the fall with a clean bill of health. The Spurs do not panic when they are upset by the Grizzlies or outlasted by the Thunder. They do not trade Parker or amnesty Duncan. They simply try again and here they are suddenly favorites to win the Western Conference. The Lakers meanwhile are as broke as Andrew Goudelock in Rio Grande Valley. It will take many months to mend.

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George Jones dies at 81 country music icon

His 1980 recording of He Stopped Loving Her Today became one of the most revered songs in country music history.

Singers Hank Williams Johnny Cash and Merle Haggard were known for the poetically crafted lyrics of their country standards. But Jones' anguish drenched vocals elevated He Stopped Loving Her Today above its soap opera lyrics in polls of the greatest country music songs.

Also Photos Celebrities react to George Jones' death George Jones was the voice of heartbreak George Jones dies Listen to his one of a kind duet with Johnny Cash Photos Notable deaths of 2013 John Galardi dies at 75 founder of Der Wienerschnitzel Annette Funicello dies at 70 Mouseketeer and 'beach' movie star See more stories

George Jones Career in Photos

From 1955 to 2005 Jones put 167 records on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart a history making 143 of them in the top 40 and won two Grammy Awards. Along the way he won admirers as diverse as Frank Sinatra James Taylor and the Who's Pete Townshend.

Jones 81 died Friday in Nashville a little more than a week after being hospitalized for a fever and irregular blood pressure ending a long tumultuous life that frequently outstripped the songs he sang in terms of sheer drama.

The world has lost the greatest country singer of all time. Amen Merle Haggard said Friday in a statement.

Vince Gill whose 20 Grammy Awards make him the most lauded male country singer ever said There aren't words in our language to describe the depth of his greatness. I'll miss my kind and generous friend.

In George Jones glorious musical achievement lived side by side with personal heartbreak. Frustration failure disappointment and loss gave way later in life to personal and artistic redemption in recent decades.

That Jones continued touring and recording until this month astonished and delighted fans who had seen him struggle with alcohol and drug abuse multiple marriages and divorces lawsuits over his erratic behavior and brushes with death in motor vehicle accidents. His life became the stuff of country legend Following a drinking binge during which his wife took his car keys so he couldn't drive Jones famously commandeered a motorized lawn mower and drove himself to the nearest liquor store.

Hopefully people will remember me for my music and forgive me of the things I did that let 'em down Jones said in 2006. He also understood he wouldn't be absolved of everything There are some things you just can't make up to people he said of the many performances he missed over the years because of his struggles with alcohol and drugs which led to the nickname No Show Jones that followed him for many years in the 1970s and '80s.

Yet along the way he continued to deliver hit after hit from 1955 when he first scored with Why Baby Why through his final appearance on the pop chart 50 years later as a guest of Waylon Jennings' son Shooter Jennings on 4th of July.

PHOTOS Celebrities react to the death of George Jones

In country music George Jones set the standard long ago the late Johnny Cash once said. No one has compared to him yet.

Or as the now departed Waylon Jennings famously remarked If we could all sound like we wanted to we would all sound like George Jones.

George Jones was the ultimate voice of country music said Robert Hilburn The Times' former pop music critic. He was someone whose pure and traditional tone represented to country music singing what Hank Williams represented to country songwriting. When people talk about country music being the white man's blues they can explain their point by simply playing a George Jones song.

George Glenn Jones was born Sept. 12 1931 and grew up in Saratoga a small dusty town northeast of Houston in the Big Thicket region of Texas. He was the eighth child of George Washington Jones a pipe fitter and shipyard worker who played guitar and Clara Jones a church pianist.

The modest household was dominated by the sounds of gospel and country music and the abusive rages of the young singer's father who turned to alcohol to drown his pain when Jones' sister died from a fever.

We were our Daddy's loved ones when he was sober his prisoners when he was drunk the singer wrote in his 1996 autobiography I Lived to Tell the Tale.

As an 11 year old Jones made his first money as a singer when he played guitar and warbled Eddy Arnold songs for coins in front of a local church.

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His Life Was a Country Song

His publicists Webster Associates said he died at a hospital after being admitted there on April 18 with fever and irregular blood pressure.

Mr. Jones s singing was universally respected and just as widely imitated. With a baritone voice that was as elastic as a steel guitar string he found vulnerability and doubt behind the cheerful drive of honky tonk and brought suspense to every syllable merging bluesy slides with the tight quivering ornaments of Appalachian singing.

In his most memorable songs all the pleasures of a down home Saturday night couldn t free him from private pain. His up tempo songs had undercurrents of solitude and the ballads that became his specialty were suffused with stoic desolation. When you re onstage or recording you put yourself in those stories he once said.

Fans heard in those songs the strains of a life in which success and excess battled for decades. Mr. Jones nicknamed Possum for his close set eyes and pointed nose and later No Show Jones for the concerts he missed during drinking and drug binges bought sold and traded dozens of houses and hundreds of cars he earned millions of dollars and lost much of it to drug use mismanagement and divorce settlements. Through it all he kept touring and recording singing mournful songs that continued to ring true.

Mr. Jones was a presence on the country charts from the 1950s into the 21st century and as early as the 1960s he was praised by listeners and fellow musicians as the greatest living country singer. He was never a crossover act while country fans revered him pop and rock radio stations ignored him. But by the 1980s Mr. Jones had come to stand for country tradition. Country singers through the decades from Garth Brooks and Randy Travis to Toby Keith and Tim McGraw learned licks from Mr. Jones who never bothered to wear a cowboy hat.

Not everybody needs to sound like a George Jones record Alan Jackson the country singer and songwriter once told an interviewer. But that s what I ve always done and I m going to keep it that way or try to.

George Glenn Jones was born with a broken arm in Saratoga Tex. an oil field town on Sept. 12 1931 to Clare and George Washington Jones. His father a truck driver and pipe fitter bought George his first guitar when he was 9 and with help from a Sunday school teacher he taught himself to play melodies and chords. As a teenager he sang on the streets in Pentecostal revival services and in the honky tonks in the Gulf Coast port of Beaumont. Bus drivers let him ride free if he sang. Soon he was appearing on radio shows forging a style modeled on Lefty Frizzell Roy Acuff and Hank Williams.

First Single

Mr. Jones married Dorothy Bonvillion when he was 17 but divorced her before the birth of their daughter. He served in the Marines from 1950 to 1953 then signed to Starday Records whose co owner Pappy Daily became Mr. Jones s producer and manager. Mr. Jones s first single No Money in This Deal was released in 1954 the year he married his second wife Shirley Corley. They had two sons before they divorced in 1968.

Why Baby Why released in 1955 became Mr. Jones s first hit. During the 1950s he wrote or collaborated on many of his songs including hits like Just One More What Am I Worth and Color of the Blues though he later gave up songwriting. In the mid 50s he had a brief fling with rockabilly recording as Thumper Jones and as Hank Smith. But under his own name he was a country hit maker. He began singing at the Grand Ole Opry in 1956.

He had already become a drinker. White Lightning a No. 1 country hit in 1959 required 83 takes because Mr. Jones was drinking through the session. On the road playing one night stands he tore up hotel rooms and got into brawls. He also began missing shows because he was too drunk to perform.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction

Correction April 26 2013

An earlier version of this article misspelled the surname of Mr. Jones s wife. Her name is Nancy Sepulvedo not Sepulveda. It also in one instance referred to Mr. Jones as Mr. George.

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Cardinals take CB Tyrann Mathieu

Cardinals Select Tyrann MathieuNEXT VIDEO Cardinals Select Tyrann MathieuCardinals Select Tyrann MathieuBruce Arians On Tyrann MathieuBruce Arians On Tyrann MathieuEx LSU CB Tharold Simon ArrestedEx LSU CB Tharold Simon Arrested

TEMPE Ariz. Tyrann Mathieu could barely get the words out the sobs and tears muffling his voice through the telephone.

I know I'm on the right track he said.

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The Arizona Cardinals seem to think so.

After relatively safe choices in the first two rounds of the NFL draft the Cardinals took a chance in the third by taking Mathieu the talented but troubled cornerback out of LSU.

Based on their own evaluations and the word of their Pro Bowl cornerback Patrick Peterson Mathieu's former LSU teammate and one of his closest friends the Cardinals used the 69th overall pick Friday night to take the player affectionately known as the Honey Badger.

He impressed me so much in my office one on one knowing at this point in time what he needs to do in his life Cardinals first year coach Bruce Arians said. I was really taken aback a little bit. He knows what his problems are he knows what he has done to himself but he also knows that someone will give him a chance that he knows what he needs to make sure he succeeds.

Once considered a Heisman Trophy front runner and sure bet first rounder Mathieu became a risky choice for NFL teams after a string of off the field incidents put his character in question.

A Heisman Trophy finalist in 2011 Mathieu was kicked off the team by LSU coach Les Miles in preseason camp last August for failing multiple drug tests.

Mathieu who didn't play in 2012 was arrested less than two months later with three former teammates after police found 10 bags of marijuana and drug paraphernalia in his Baton Rouge apartment.

Mathieu spent two weeks in a drug treatment program run by former NBA player John Lucas and the months leading up the draft trying to rehabilitate his image. He spent some of that time with Peterson who vouched for his friend to the Cardinals front office and coaching staff before they picked him in the draft.

The guy is ready to play football said Peterson who said he will continue to mentor Mathieu with the Cardinals. He made a mistake was in an unstable position where he got caught with the marijuana but he understands the importance of being accountable and being a role model so that stuff is behind him.

Before his fall from grace Mathieu was one of the nation's most dynamic players a game changing force who was a threat to score every time he touched the football whether on kick returns or turnovers.

Mathieu finished fifth in the Heisman Trophy voting in 2011 and was the first defensive back to be invited to the ceremony in New York since Michigan's Charles Woodson won the award in 1997. He also won the Bednarik Award as national defensive player of the year was an All American and forced 11 career fumbles seventh most in NCAA history and a school record.

Once the troubles hit Mathieu's stock plummeted causing teams to bypass him in the draft.

Mathieu worked on fixing his image with Peterson and said he would be willing to undergo weekly drug testing see drug counselors therapists whatever the Cardinals want.

He's thrilled to have a second chance and plans to make the most of it.

Their biggest thing is that they want to know that they can trust me Mathieu said. They want to be able to know that I've crossed that bridge.

The Cardinals were convinced Mathieu was serious about changing his life after thoroughly researching his background.

They flew Mathieu out to Phoenix had dinner with him spent time with him and Peterson together and traveled to LSU's campus to speak with just about every staff member who came in contact with him on campus.

The Cardinals also had conversations with Peterson about Mathieu's background and character and plan to have wording in his contract to keep him on the right track.

NFC West Blog

ESPN.com's Mike Sando writes about all things NFC West in his division blog.

Network NFL Nation

We are going to take the necessary measures to make sure he walks the straight and narrow Arizona general manager Steve Keim said. We felt comfortable with the risk that was involved.

The Cardinals took less of a gamble on their first two picks selecting North Carolina offensive guard Jonathan Cooper with the No. 7 overall pick in the first round on Thursday and LSU inside linebacker Kevin Minter after swapping second round picks with San Diego on Friday.

The Cardinals opted to shore up a linebacking corps that will be missing Daryl Washington the first four games of the 2013 season after he violated the league's substance abuse policy.

As a redshirt junior last season Minter was 14th nationally with 130 tackles including 15 for losses while becoming a finalist for the Butkus Award and a second team Associated Press All American.

Arizona had the seventh pick of the second round 38th overall but traded it to San Diego in exchange for the Chargers' second round (45th overall) and fourth round picks (110).

San Diego used the pick to take Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o the Heisman Trophy runner up who drew national attention after he said he was tricked into an online relationship with a girl who didn't exist.

Though they would drop a bit of a bombshell later in the draft with Mathieu the Cardinals made a much more low key selection in the second round by taking Minter another former Peterson teammate known for his hard hitting style.

He is not the longest athlete but he is a squatting explosive player Keim said. Upon impact he has natural explosiveness in his hips. When he strikes you you go backward.

A good tackler and a linebacker who can fight off the blocks of bigger linemen Minter is a superb run defender who has a knack for taking good angles on ball carriers. At 6 foot 246 pounds he's also athletic enough to drop into coverage on tight ends running backs and receivers allowing him stay on the field on passing downs.

Minter's aggressiveness sometimes hurts him on misdirection and his lateral quickness has been questioned but he has a nose for the ball and loves to hit which should fit into Arizona's aggressive scheme.

I'm a physical player said Minter who graduated in December and opted to leave LSU early to help his family financially. I'm passionate. I'm about business. I feel like I'll be a great asset to this team.

And the Cardinals need help at linebacker.

Arizona released Stewart Bradley once projected as a starter during the offseason and may not re sign free agent Paris Lenon.

The Cardinals signed Jasper Brinkley who spent the previous four seasons with Minnesota during the offseason but Washington won't be able to play until Oct. 6.

Until then they'll have to rely on two players from LSU including one Honey Badger.

Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press

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George Jones Admired and Imitated Country Singer Dies at 81

His publicists Webster Associates said he died at a hospital after being admitted there on April 18 with fever and irregular blood pressure.

Mr. Jones nicknamed Possum for his close set eyes and pointed nose and later No Show Jones for the concerts he missed during drinking and drug binges was universally respected and just as widely imitated. With a baritone voice that was as elastic as a steel guitar string he found vulnerability and doubt behind the cheerful drive of honky tonk and brought suspense to every syllable merging bluesy slides with the tight quivering ornaments of Appalachian singing.

In his most memorable songs all the pleasures of a down home Saturday night couldn t free him from private pain. His up tempo songs had undercurrents of solitude and the ballads that became his specialty were suffused with stoic desolation. When you re onstage or recording you put yourself in those stories he once said.

Fans heard in those songs the echoes of a life in which success and excess battled for decades. Mr. Jones bought sold and traded dozens of houses and hundreds of cars he earned millions of dollars and lost much of it to drug use mismanagement and divorce settlements. Through it all he kept touring and recording singing mournful songs that continued to ring true.

Mr. Jones was a presence on the country charts from the 1950s into the 21st century and as early as the 1960s he was praised by listeners and fellow musicians as the greatest living country singer. He was never a crossover act while country fans revered him pop and rock radio stations ignored him. But by the 1980s Mr. Jones had come to stand for country tradition. Country singers through the decades from Garth Brooks and Randy Travis to Toby Keith and Tim McGraw learned licks from Mr. Jones who never bothered to wear a cowboy hat.

Not everybody needs to sound like a George Jones record Alan Jackson the country singer and songwriter once told an interviewer. But that s what I ve always done and I m going to keep it that way or try to.

George Glenn Jones was born with a broken arm in Saratoga Tex. an oil field town on Sept. 12 1931 to Clare and George Washington Jones. His father a truck driver and pipe fitter bought George his first guitar when he was 9 and with help from a Sunday school teacher he taught himself to play melodies and chords. As a teenager he sang on the streets in Pentecostal revival services and in the honky tonks in the Gulf Coast port of Beaumont. Bus drivers let him ride free if he sang. Soon he was appearing on radio shows forging a style modeled on Lefty Frizzell Roy Acuff and Hank Williams.

Mr. Jones married Dorothy Bonvillion when he was 17 but divorced her before the birth of their daughter. He served in the Marines from 1950 to 1953 then signed to Starday Records whose co owner Pappy Daily became Mr. Jones s producer and manager. Mr. Jones s first single No Money in This Deal was released in 1954 the year he married his second wife Shirley Corley. They had two sons before they divorced in 1968.

Why Baby Why released in 1955 became Mr. Jones s first hit. During the 1950s he wrote or collaborated on many of his songs including hits like Just One More What Am I Worth and Color of the Blues though he later gave up songwriting. In the mid '50s he had a brief fling with rockabilly recording as Thumper Jones and as Hank Smith. But under his own name he was a country hit maker. He began singing at the Grand Ole Opry in 1956.

He had already become a drinker. White Lightning a No. 1 country hit in 1959 required 83 takes because Mr. Jones was drinking through the session. On the road playing one night stands he tore up hotel rooms and got into brawls. He also began missing shows because he was too drunk to perform.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction

Correction April 26 2013

An earlier version of this article misspelled the surname of Mr. Jones s wife. Her name is Nancy Sepulvedo not Sepulveda.

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