"I did it all but one thing in my football career," he says, "and that was, win that damn championship. Everything else, I double-timed; it wasn't even close, OK? But within that structure didn't come a championship, and I live with that every day. I've been in the Hall of Fame [nearly] 30 years, and I still can't dump it."
A larger-than-life figure during his playing days in Los Angeles, Jones fronted a band that performed at the Cocoanut Grove and says he sang onstage with Ray Charles. He never seriously pursued a singing career but has worn a variety of other hats since leaving football: actor, businessman, commentator, benefactor, sports and pop culture memorabilia collector.
"I've dabbled in a lot of everything," says Jones, who still makes public appearances at charitable events such as "Evening With the Stars II," Thursday's fundraiser at Trump National Golf Club in Rancho Palos Verdes. "When I hit 65, I lied to myself like most people do and said, 'I'm retired, I ain't doing nothing else.'
"Well, when I looked at the things I was doing, it wasn't like a job. It was all [an extension of] my football career."
And football, of course, is still his favorite subject.
Though Jones was one of three defensive ends named to the NFL's 75th-anniversary all-time team in 1994, his No. 75 has not been retired by the Rams, a decision he calls "asinine."
He says a friendly rivalry with Olsen, drafted by the Rams a year after Jones arrived, helped him reach his full potential.
"I learned so much from Merlin," he says. "The guy was just fantastic. We played 10 years together, side by side, and you saw the results of it: There ain't no left side in the history of this game better or more dominant than me and Merlin Olsen."
Of his signature move, Jones says, "The headslap was not my invention, but Rembrandt, of course, did not invent painting."
Jones, in other words, turned it into a concussive art form.
"The quickness of my hands and the length of my arms, it was perfect for me," he says. "It was the greatest thing I ever did, and when I left the game, they outlawed it.
"I couldn't be more proud."
Slim and trim at 6 feet 5 and 237 pounds -- about 40 pounds lighter than his playing weight -- Jones says a bout with prostate cancer about 20 years ago prompted a lifestyle change and resulted in his dropping more than 100 pounds.
Now he's taking medication to help him stop smoking.
"I smoked my whole career," he says. "Sunday morning, I'd smoke a pack of them [things], my nerves was so scratched up. If I'd had myself a quart of whiskey, I'd have drank that."
Instead, he relieved his stress by chasing quarterbacks.
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jerome.crowe@latimes.com
