By Berry Tramel
The Oklahoman
Keith Jackson went into the
Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame on Monday night.
It's the least we could do.
This state has been importing great football players for more than 60 years, but few volunteered for such duty under the pressures faced by OU's Big No. 88.
Texans cross the Red River all the time, so even the great ones don't cause great outrage at leaving home.
Barry Sanders and
Jack Mitchell came from Kansas, which would care only if they played hoops.
But
Jackson came from Arkansas. One of the two or three greatest players our east neighbor ever produced,
Jackson withstood societal and economic pressures to follow his dream.
Jackson signed with the
Sooners, not the Razorbacks, and it paid off. For both parties.
Barry Switzer presented
Jackson, a six-time Pro Bowl tight end and two-time Sooner All-American, and told old stories about recruiting
Jackson out of Little Rock Parkview in 1983-84.
"We ran the wishbone offense,"
Switzer said. "I told (assistant coach)Charley North, 'We don't have a chance to get this guy. Why would a tight end want to come to the
University of Oklahoma?' He said, 'Coach, we do.' "
Jackson's mother,
Gladys Barnett, was in attendance and
Switzer thanked her "for fighting off the tremendous pressure not to go to the
University of Arkansas."
Barnett was a registered nurse who worked for the state.
"The pressure they put on her, what she had to endure..."
Switzer said. "She was the one getting hammered."
But
Barnett stayed strong and allowed her son to make his own decision. But mom gave OU some help.
Switzer made himself at home when he visited
Jackson, and
Barnett told her son, "That's the first white man who ever took his shoes off in my house."
Jackson walked into the middle of a conversation with his mom and
Switzer. He thought
Switzer would be talking about Sooner tradition, education, all the normal pitches coaches make.
Instead, the subject was southern food.
"
Coach Switzer said, 'When you make your greens, do you put your fat back in?' "
Jackson said. " 'How do you get the cracklin' in the cornbread?' "
But when
Switzer left the house that night, he turned to
Barnett and said, "Send him to
Oklahoma, I'll treat him like my son."
More than 22 years later, going into an adopted state's sports hall of fame,
Jackson said, "He held up his end of the bargain."
So did
Jackson. OU's best tight end ever and one of college football's best ever, no Sooner ever produced so well on the big stage.
"He would win the games against Texas, Nebraska, the bowl games,"
Switzer said.
Any list of the biggest plays of the
Switzer era includes multiple
Jackson magic. The 88-yard reverse against Nebraska in 1985. The 71-yard TD catch against
Penn State in the 1986
Orange Bowl. The one-handed catch at Nebraska in 1986.
Jackson caught only 62 passes in four seasons; he caught 81 in his NFL rookie year alone.
Ex-Sooner basketball coach
Billy Tubbs, also inducted Monday night, said
Jackson should have played hoops: "You wouldn't have taken all those hits and I would have let you shoot the damn thing."
But
Switzer said it best: "When we did put it in his hands, he did magical things."
Jackson returned to Little Rock after his NFL career and has repaid his home state for shirking the Razorbacks.
Jackson started a renowned youth program in Little Rock and restored ties to the
University of Arkansas, where
Jackson is the football radio analyst and his son, Keith Jr., is a standout defensive tackle.
But
Jackson says his
Oklahoma ties remain strong. His favorite OU memory? Not those big plays. Not the four Big Eight championships. Not even all those times
Switzer snuck up, grabbed him and said, "Who loves ya, big boy?"
Jackson's favorite memory was his final home game in 1987, against Missouri.
He mentioned a batch of fellow seniors on that glorious team.
Greg Johnson and
Rickey Dixon;
Lydell Carr,
Troy Johnson and
Darrell Reed.
"Great group of guys,"
Jackson said. "We had the opportunity that Senior Day to hold hands and walk out onto that field. Guys with tears in their eyes. Greatest moment I ever had."
The big boy deserved that moment.
Berry Tramel:475-3314, btramel@oklahoman.com; Berry Tramel's radio show, the Writer's Block, can be heard Monday-Friday from 4-7 p.m. on KREF-AM 1400, KADA-AM 1230 and KSEO-AM 750.
[10 hrs ago]
One-and-done doesn't work
