Early Life, Education, and Early Political Career
He was born in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1951, and grew up on the north side of the city in a three-bedroom ranch home on East 80th Street. Jontz reached the rank of Eagle Scout as a member of Boy Scout Troop Number 117. He graduated at the age of 17 from North Central High School in Washington Township.
Jontz began his collegiate studies at Williams College and transferred to Indiana University, where he graduated with honors (Phi Beta Kappa) in less than three years with a degree in geology. He was active in Crisis Biology and lobbied on behalf of a host of environmental causes while a student on the IU Bloomington campus. Despite a heavy study load, and involvement in student government and extra curricular affairs, Jontz co-founded the Indiana Public Interest Research Group as a Senior working project. He graduated with a B.S. from the Indiana University (Bloomington). He obtained a Master's Degree in History from Butler University, and graduated from Valparaiso University School of Law during his third term as State Representative .
His political career began in 1974, sparked by his opposition to a dam-building project in Central Indiana. Running for a seat in the Indiana House of Representatives against the dam's sponsor, John Guy, the House Majority Leader, he was elected at age 22 by a margin of only 2 votes. He was reelected five more times as a Democrat in a heavily Republican district, even after Republican gerrymandering in 1980 drastically re-drew his district. He was elected to the Indiana Senate in 1984, where he served for only two years before being elected to the United States House of Representatives.
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