Two gems from the coal mines: husband-and-wife team carves out a life that has produced five college graduates, including two NFL stars

Five to 10 miles underground and dark as a dungeon, the coal mines of Big Stone Gap, Va., were where Betty Jones worked the night shift for 20 years to provide for her seven children. One of a few African-American women coal miners, she had traded her air-conditioned office position as a secretary for a hard hat and one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. It came down to bread and butter.

"We did whatever we had to do to keep going to feed the family," Jones says. "In the coal mines, anything can go wrong. Danger was present all the time, but you get used to it. It's in your blood."

In the tiny town of about 6,000 residents, coal mining was the heartbeat of the community for generations of families until the 1980s. Mining was one of the highest-paying jobs--twice that of most jobs in town--and some people went into the mines with a sense of gratitude, despite the deadly hazards, including explosions, multiple injuries, cave-ins and the possibility of contracting "black lung" disease from breathing coal dust.

Betty's husband, Thomas Jones, was also a miner, and so was his father. Jones was laid off in 1980, but he used the broadcasting skills he gained while in the U.S. Air Force to land a position in radio and later as a local television reporter/anchor at an NBC-TV affiliate in Bristol, Va., an hour-long commute each way.

As the family grew, stretching paychecks got harder. While Betty continued to work in the coal mines, husband Thomas Jones took a better-paying position in the admissions office at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville campus and came home on weekends.

"As a father and a Black man, my job was to be a provider for the family," says Jones. "We worked in the mines to make a living, but it was always about keeping the family together. We never wavered through difficulties or succumbed to the pressures--and there were many. We thank the Good Lord that He gave us a family that endured the old-fashioned way."

Thomas and Betty Jones have seven children and look back on those days of hard work discipline, strong family values and perseverance as a rite of passage to reap the fruits of their labor.

Their efforts produced five college graduates. Three daughters--Gwen, Beatrice and Knetris--graduated from the University of Virginia. Another daughter, Knetta, is a university senior, and the youngest daughter, Katrice, is an honors student, varsity cheerleader and member of the track and softball teams at Powell Valley High School.

Sons Thomas Quinn Jones and Julius Jones graduated from the University of Virginia and Notre Dame, respectively, and have gone on to become two of the NFL's top running backs. Thomas Quinn, 27, plays with the Chicago Bears, and his 24-year-old brother, Julius, plays with the Dallas Cowboys.

Both running backs have multiyear, multimillion-dollar contracts. "Our mom and dad made it possible for us to live our dreams," says Thomas Quinn at his home in Grayslake, Ill. "Every day, our dad would get us up at 6 a.m. to run up and down the hill [to get in shape] when we were young. We thought he did it to challenge us. We didn't know then that he was preparing us."

"They've worked really hard and earned it," says sister Gwen McDonald, 36, a bookkeeper in Bethesda, Md. "Coming from a really small town, football is big, but we didn't have scouts coming every week regionally or nationally. For them to get noticed and get scholarships and make it to the NFL is a great success. What's even greater is that they haven't changed at all. When we all get together, it's like it was when we were growing up."

Sister Beatrice, 33, is an assistant property manager in Knoxville while Julius' twin sister Knetris, 24, works in an administrative position at a law firm. As the eldest sister, Gwen, who is now married with twins and a stepson, had a big responsibility of baby-sitting her younger siblings while their parents worked in the coal mines and elsewhere. "I had to help out cooking supper, giving baths, making sure the younger ones had breakfast and lunch during the day, and looking after them," she says. "I feel like all of them are my children."

Looking back, each child has a better appreciation for what their parents actually had to face to rear seven children. "As a child, you don't understand the sacrifices that your parents are making for you," Knetris says. "You don't realize how dangerous a job your mother had working underground with the best of them to provide for her family. She never complained about it. She was excited to go to work in the mines while the other mothers may have been going to the office."

Knetris recalls how her mother worked from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m., most of the time underground. She would return home in time to see the children off to school and prepare dinner before resting. In the afternoons, she would monitor the children's homework, attend family activities and take care of family needs before the next night shift.