They’re lovin’ it — Trinity Jones’ selection as a McDonald’s All-American

Posted February 25, 2026 7:25 pm

Monday was a good time for the great taste of those who chose Naperville Central’s Trinity Jones as a 2026 McDonald’s All-American.

In a presentation in the school gym, the 6-foot-2 senior and Redhawks girls basketball coach Andy Nussbaum received a McDonald’s All-American jersey to display at school.

Jones will wear the real thing in the national girls all-star game March 31 in Phoenix.

“It’s hard to describe how big of an honor this McDonald’s thing is,” Nussbaum said Wednesday. “There’s only 24 seniors in the United States that get chosen to be in that McDonald’s game, so to be one of those 24 you have to be an awesome player.”

Jones, whose season ended Tuesday in a 62-50 loss to Waubonsie Valley, is that.

She averaged 27 points, 8.4 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.2 blocks this season and made 66 3-point baskets.

After an ACL injury held her to one game as a junior, twice this season she surpassed fellow McDonald’s All-American Candace Parker’s 2002 program-record 41 points in a game.

The Clemson recruit scored 43 against Kenwood on Nov. 21 and 44 against Naperville North on Dec. 12.

Naperville Central trailed Maine South 40-26 at halftime of the Komaromy Classic title game at Dundee-Crown in December. Jones then scored 36 of her 41 points to pace a 77-74 Redhawks win.

In two seasons her 1,349 points rank eighth all-time at Naperville Central, Nussbaum said.

With her family alongside her at Monday’s jersey presentation, Jones waved for her teammates to join her. Then they all headed out … to McDonald’s.

“We’re just really excited for her,” Nussbaum said. “I feel fortunate to have had two McDonald’s All-Americans.”

Master Whip-Pur

Ron Ellett started the football program at Hampshire High School as a 20-year-old in 1963. He led the Whip-Purs to two state titles in a hall of fame career. He died Feb. 20 in Marengo. Courtesy of the Ellett family

On Feb. 20 at The Legacy Golf Club in Phoenix, where she and her husband, Doug, spend their winters, Sue Ellett used her 9-iron to loft the ball 113 yards into the cup.

A hole-in-one normally is the day’s most memorable event. Not that day.

Doug Ellett’s father, Ron, died Feb. 20 at 83 in Marengo after battling Parkinson’s disease for 16 years.

“I think he threw that ball in the hole,” said Doug Ellett, like his wife a retired teacher and coach, she with Hampshire High School girls basketball, he in baseball at Burlington Central and a couple seasons at Larkin, where he taught 33 years.

In life — and beyond? — Ron Ellett influenced a lot of people.

With two kids in diapers and $35 to their names, in 1963 with his first wife, Mary, Ron Ellett came right out of Eastern Illinois University to start the Hampshire football program. He began by showing his players how to put on their pads.

By 1968 Ellett led the purple-clad Whip-Purs to the Little 8 Conference title. And in a four-season span from 1976-79 Hampshire won two Class 1A titles with another runner-up finish.

“He was a taskmaster, he would tell you that. He was tough, but he wanted to teach you how to play the game the right way,” said Doug Ellett, who played on a couple of those teams with his older brother, also Ron.

“The thing I remember is it was more than a football game. It was the lessons, the hard work, you don’t make excuses if you lose. If you lose it meant you didn’t prepare or work hard enough. I think the empowerment he gave to his players was something he gave to them throughout their lives,” Doug Ellett said.

Ron Ellett left Hampshire after a playoff season in 1983 and led Elgin to a 9-2 mark in 1984 for a 22-year record of 133-70-3 — and a 1993 berth in the Illinois High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

After a season at North Park University, Ellett went into home building, which he’d started during the summers at Hampshire with his boys. He found Ron Ellett Builders more lucrative than teaching and coaching.

“His legacy lives on in a lot of different ways,” Doug Ellett said. “Through sports, through the homes, through the guys.”

Also through four children, 13 grandchildren, two step-grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Ron Ellett and his wife, Karen, attended all their musicals and ballgames.

Not quite ready to say “grandpa,” the little ones called Ron Ellett “Pampa” and “Panka.”

Doug Ellett will miss hearing that.

“The thing that keeps you going,” he said, “is all the good memories. And there’s a lot of them.”

Services for Ron Ellett will be held March 13-14 at Zion United Methodist Church in Hampshire. Wear purple.

doberhelman@dailyherald.com