Jackson's Duke Journey
While the competition that the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) provided was one of the main reasons Jackson chose to attend Duke, the school also gave him a top-notch education. Balancing one's time between being an athlete and a committed student is a cumbersome chore. "It can be a little troublesome at times, especially during the season as far as balancing that act," Jackson recalled. "But it is one of those things that if you can apply yourself enough, it is really not that difficult. Going to class is obviously number one, if you take care of that, everything else seems to take care of itself."
Jackson knew that an opportunity to play at a competitive school and earn an education at a school like Duke did not come around very often. "For me, it was a great situation. Duke is an institute that stresses the academics and everything."
However, being a Division I student-athlete did take its toll and before Jackson could finish his graduation requirements, the Florida Marlins drafted him. It was not until 2006, more than 4 years after he had officially retired from major league baseball that Jackson decided to return to school and finish his degree. He walked the same main quad that he had back in the early '90s, except this time, it was as a 35-year old husband and father.
Even though his own life had changed significantly since his time as an undergraduate, Jackson says not much had changed around campus, except for maybe the construction of Bostock Library in 2005. He says that one of the changes he noticed came inside the classroom. "The professor part of it was a little different. When you go back at 35 years old, you tend to address the professors more informally," Jackson reflected. "I was more of an adult then and I was more on their level at that point so it was very easy to speak with them." He even went to a few ballgames with one of his professors, something that he never would have considered doing as an undergraduate.
Duke University is known for its vibrant social life on campus and Jackson was in the center of it during his undergraduate years, as he was a part of Duke's fraternity scene. But things were a bit different for Jackson in the summer of 2006. Jackson now had a wife and children to take care of that summer. "I kind of stayed off campus and it was during the summer time so there were not a lot of students there, so it wasn't really the regular lifestyle that you're used to seeing. You go out, you do this you do that. But I'm married with kids, so I was more concerned with getting phone time with them."
Before his days as a parent and husband, Jackson was just one of the many student-athletes on Duke's campus. His first two seasons were average and he was never able to reach his full potential. It was not until a series at NC State that his head coach pulled him aside and gave him an ultimatum, "A real turning point in my career was Bill Hillier. We actually went to an NC State series and he gave me an ultimatum, I was having trouble with the signs at the time, so they actually incorporated a whole new set of signs for me while I was playing." Jackson did not know that his vision was as bad as it was. "Basically my vision was not as good as it should have been, so he said that I either go out and get the contacts before this series or I wasn't going to be playing that series. So I did that and it kind of started a good stretch for me where I ended up hitting 12 home runs over an 8-game stretch and that was kind of a turning point in my career. All it took was correcting my vision." Who knew the solution was that simple.
After the correction of his vision, Jackson was able to be the player that everyone expected him to be when Duke recruited him. However, Jackson says his most memorable moment at Duke came during his sophomore year. "We actually had a UNC basketball game that was going to follow the baseball game. So we had a few thousand fans turn up to our game," Jackson recalled. "I ended up hitting a walk-off grand slam in the ninth inning that was an extra inning game, and it was the second part of a doubleheader. That was probably my most memorable moment." That is certainly a game no one would ever forget, especially with it coming against the Tar Heels.
After four years on the varsity team, Jackson still maintains a close friendship with his former teammate and current head coach Sean McNally. They talk on the phone when their schedules allow and every once in a while Jackson will get up to Durham to catch a game at his former stomping grounds. He knows that baseball is not the most popular sport at Duke, with basketball and football leading the way. But that does not mean that he won't give praise to McNally for the job he's done despite the fewer amount of fans. "It's a difficult situation when you talk about that baseball program," Jackson opined. "You look at it as far as the ACC being such a competitive conference. It is tough to jump up there like that. But Sean McNally has done a great job, especially the year before last year they put together quite a good season." Hopefully the Duke baseball team will continue to have as much success as the teams of which Jackson was a part.