Churchill Alum Tackles Football, Travel in New Book

Dhani Jones stood in front of a packed room at Wednesday evening, behind him a big brown bookcase holding 10 neatly-placed copies of his new book on each of the five shelves, and a lectern directly in front of him.

For more than an hour, Jones, at the book store to promote his newly-released "The Sportsman: Unexpected Lessons from an All-Around-the-World Sports Odyssey", talked about not only his book--which details his experiences in football, travel and just life in general--but also shared many stories from his travels, his time working on the Travel Channel series Dhani Tackles the Globe and his football career, which began at Potomac's Winston Churchill High School and continues as he enters his 12th NFL season.

Jones also spent time encouraging the audience of approximately 200 people--completely fixated on the engaging Jones throughout the time he was speaking--to make sure to find time to create their own adventures and experiences.

He took audience questions as well, answering on a wide range of topics including what he considers to be the toughest sport to play, the best place he’s traveled, the country he’s been most surprised by, his best college memories and even the recently-ended NFL lockout.

"It was a great night," said Jones, who spent nearly two hours afterwards autographing copies of his new book for those in attendance Wednesday.

"It's great to come back home," he added.

The 33-year-old Jones, grew up in Potomac and graduated from Churchill in 1996. He was a three-time All-Big 10 honoree as a linebacker at the University of Michigan (1996-99) before moving on to the NFL, where he's played for four teams since first being drafted by the New York Giants in the sixth round of the NFL's 2000 draft. Most recently he was a linebacker for the NFL's Cincinnatti Bengels.

Jones' TV show, “Dhani Tackles the Globe,” which has aired for two seasons on the Travel Channel, follows Jones as he travels to different countries around the world as he learns--and eventually competes in the country’s local sport, samples the local food and also learns each country’s customs. The show has taken him to Cambodia, Croatia, England, Iceland, Nepal, Scotland and Spain, among many others.

Jones hopes his book, and the stories and experiences he shares, motivates people to pursue some of those same unique adventures.

“I hope that everyone that reads the book will, if they don’t have a passport, go get one,” Jones said.

“The book serves as sort of a memoir of the last 33 years, where I am right now, what I’ve learned up to this point and what I hope to do during the next 33 years.”

Since the book was released in early June, Jones has spent the last two months touring the country promoting his work and is now wrapping up his nationwide book tour in his home state of Maryland.

He's also in the midst of finding a new NFL team, as he's currently a free agent after posting a career-best 125 tackles with the Cincinnati Bengals last season.

But when talking about his plans for the future Wednesday night, even in the midst of free agency, Jones’ focus seemed to be on much more than just football.

“I just want to continue to travel, continue to learn and continue to teach,” he said.