Jackson State Celebrates 100 Years of Football
SWAC.org
By Roscoe Nance
The Jackson State football program is celebrating its 100th season in 2011. And, considering the accomplishments of the Tigers' program, when the role of the preeminent HBCU football programs is checked it shouldn't take long for their name to be called.
JSU has produced three Pro Football Hall of Famers, three College Football Hall of Fame players and two Hall of Fame coaches, and enough NFL stars to light the firmament. In addition, Jackson State has won16 SWAC titles and three Black College National Championships.
"When you talk about Jackson State and Grambling, they're almost in the same boat,'' says Grambling coach Doug Williams, a Hall of Fame quarterback when he played for the G-Men. "When you look at W.C. Gorden and "Big John" Merritt (Jackson State's Hall of Fame coaches) and how they dominated for so many years, there's a lot of history there.''
That history was on display when Jackson State's All-Centennial Team was honored at a banquet last Friday night and again during the Tigers' game against Grambling Saturday.
Jackson State has had a steady stream of NFL players beginning with College Hall of Fame receiver Willie Richardson, who joined the Baltimore Colts in 1963 and played nine pro seasons.
Jackson State has had seven first-round draft picks, most recently in 2000 when the Kansas City chose wide receiver Sylvester Morris with the 21st overall pick and the Carolina Panthers selected cornerback Rashard Anderson with 23rd pick. In 1980, 25 former Tigers were on NFL training camp rosters, including 21 veterans, 14 who were starters the previous season, and four who were All-Pro. In 1968 alone, the Tigers had 11 players selected in the NFL draft.
"They've always had outstanding players,'' says Alcorn State coach Melvin Spears, who played against Jackson State in the 1980s as a receiver/running back for Alcorn..
Williams says one of the things that has made Grambling a more recognizable name than Jackson State was the Collie J. Nicholson, the G-Men's sports information director, and Coach Eddie Robinson marketed the team. Robinson's mantra was "the stadiums of the world are our home."
Robinson scheduled games for Grambling throughout the nation and even overseas, and he had Nicholson alongside him to chronicle the G-Men's exploits. The result was Grambling became as well known as many major colleges, and its players were no secret.
"If Jackson had been the same way, those names would have been out there,'' Williams says. "As far as athletes and what Jackson has done as far as its program, it's along the same line as Grambling.''
Jackson State football came into prominence in 1962 when the Tigers defeated Florida A&M in the Orange Blossom Classic with Merritt as their coach. The Rattlers, coached by Hall of Famer Jake Gaither, were the premier team in Black College Football during that era, and the Tigers' victory propelled them to their first Black College National Championship.
The Tigers catapulted to dominance in the under Gorden beginning in the late 1970s. They won nine SWAC championships from 1980-95, and they captured their second Black College crown in 1985. They were almost unbeatable in the SWAC during the 1980s, winning a conference record 28 consecutive games from 1985-88.
Gorden, however, says what is most gratifying for him is the way the Tigers performed in the classroom. Jackson State had the highest graduation rate, 61.9%, among all the football playing colleges in Mississippi during the 1980-81 school year. Ole Miss was second with 44.5%.
"The greatest and proudest accomplishment I made, not winning SWAC championships but graduating players" says Gorden, who won eight SWAC titles and is the winningest coach in Jackson State history with a 118-47-5 record in 15 seasons. "That led to them having successful careers."
"When you played Jackson State, there was a big intimidation factor," says ESPN College Football Analyst Eddie Robinson, an All-America linebacker at Alabama State and the 1991 SWAC Defensive Player of the Year. "They were the bullies of the SWAC."
Robinson recalls an incident from his freshman year that typified Jackson State's swagger. The Hornets linebackers were stretching in one end zone when the linebackers from Jackson State, led by All-American Darion Conner took the field. Conner slapped an Alabama State player on the behind and led his teammates in the chant "Whose house? LBs' house."
"That set the tone," Robinson says. "We never recovered."
Robinson says Conner, who at 6-2, 250 could run with receivers, was typical of the type players Jackson State usually has one defense.
"They always had that one guy on defense who fit outside the norm of speed and size and did some freakish things," Robinson says.
Robert Brazile, another All-America linebacker who was the sixth player picked in the 1975 NFL Draft, was in that mold. So too was Kevin Dent, a 6-2, 200-pound safety who was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2006.
"We had a lot of raw talent," says Bob Hill, who was 46-16-1 in six seasons as Jackson State's coach from 1971-75. "It had to be developed. They had size, speed and potential. But it had to be developed. We worked hard on fundamentals."
A popular saying around Jackson State in the late 1970s and early '80s was you shake any tree on campus and three or four All-Americans would fall out. That may not have been an exaggeration. When Wilbert Montgomery, a future All-Pro running back with the Philadelphia Eagles, came to Jackson State and took a look at his competition for playing time - which included Walter and Eddie Payton, Rod Phillips, Rickey Young and Joe Lowery, who all went on to play in the NFL - he packed his bags and headed to Abilene Christian.
Jackson State's legacy of outstanding teams dates back to 1920 and the Iron 13 - whose name was derived from the number of players on the squad that season. That team was undefeated and only allowed 14 points.
"That's one of those occurrences that only happens once," says Jackson State golf coach Eddie Payton, who was a running back for the Tigers before playing in the NFL for five seasons. "We've had some great teams and great athletes, but that's the only team that had an undefeated season. It may be a while before we see another one of those."
Jackson State's football alumni reads like a who's who of football. At the top of the list is Pro Football Hall of Fame running back Walter Payton, whose exploits brought Jackson State national exposure. In1974 Payton, who retired from the Chicago Bears' as the NFL's all-time rushing leader after a 13-year career, became the first athlete from an HBCU to receive votes in the Heisman Trophy balloting.
"That helped solidify Jackson State as a major player in terms of producing outstanding players," former Jackson State Sports Information Director Sam Jefferson says. "It definitely shined spotlight on the program. When you say Walter Payton and Jackson State in the same sentence, that's publicity you can't pay for. It meant a lot."
Cornerback Lem Barney and offensive tackle Jackie Slater are the other Jackson State players in the Pro Football Hall of Fame; Brazile, a five-time first team All-Pro selection and a seven-time Pro Bowler, and wide receiver Harold Jackson, a five-time Pro Bowler who was first and second team All-Pro once each, have the credentials to be enshrined as well.
Jackson State's plethora of talent created a competitive atmosphere that at times made getting through practice more challenging than playing in games.
"It was a grind on a daily basis to earn the right play," Eddie Payton says. When I looked at the people who backed me up and the people who came behind them, if you didn't feel like practicing you certainly knew the guy behind you felt like playing."
Payton tells the story of John Ealey, a running back from Baton Rouge, La., who learned that lesson the hard way. Ealey and Payton, the starters, both had big games in the opening weeks of Payton's senior season. As Payton tells, Jackson State had a weaker opponent coming up, and Ealey decided he wouldn't practice that week. Coach Hill started a freshman named Walter Payton in place of Ealey. The rest of the story can be found in the record books.
"That decision not to practice that week ended his college career," Eddie Payton says. "Walter started and never got off the field again."
Jackson State football has been the hottest ticket in the Football Championship Subdivision since its inception as Division I-AA in 1978.
The Tigers led the division in home attendance 13 times in the 20-year period from 1983-2002; they set the division record in 1997 with an average of 38,873 fans a game. They were in the top five in attendance 20 times from 1978-2003 and in the top 15 every season from1978-97; the only season they missed the top 10 was 1982 when they were No. 14. This season, Jackson State is No. 4 in attendance, averaging 21,480 fans a game.
"It seems like they always have an interesting product that people want to come back and see," says ESPN College Football Analyst Jay Walker. "That's been their consistency."
This season fans want to see Jackson State's high-powered passing game, led by All-American quarterback Casey Therriault. The Tigers average 306.2 yards a game through the air, No. 8 in the FCS. Therriault has passed for 2,441 yards, eighth best in the FCS, and he is No. 5 in total offense with 319.1 yards a game.
In many ways, this season is like so many others in JSU history. The Tigers are among the best teams in Black College football and have plenty of stars on the field - a fitting way to celebrate 100 years of Jackson State football.