After nearly drowning as a 5-year-old child, Jones learned to swim and has made it his mission to reduce the startling number of drowning deaths among African-American children each year.

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Jones still vividly remembers the moment he almost died. He and his parents had left their New Jersey home for a day of fun at Pennsylvania’s Dorney Park and Wildwater Kingdom. But at one point, his inner tube flipped over and he was underwater for 30 seconds.
“So I was holding on to this inner tube and I'm, like, flailing,” he said.
“My parents told me I was clinically dead,” Jones said. “My mom was in tears. My dad was trying to console her and the lifeguard was giving me CPR.”
Lifeguards performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to bring Jones back to life. Jones’ mother, Debra, watched in horror. She couldn’t swim and was unable to help her son. After nearly losing her only child, she decided to put Jones in swim classes within the week.