Keith Jackson
1
T UESDAY , NOVEMBER 23, 2010 SPORTS SECTION B Interim Sports Editor Annette Whitehead 501-268-8621 [email protected] FORMER SUPER BOWL CHAMPION VISITS SEARCY Daily Citizen The Former NFL tight end Keith Jackson speaks at the annual Searcy Chamber of Commerce banquet at Harding University Monday evening. Warren Watkins/[email protected] Jackson talks about giving back By Annette Whitehead [email protected] K eith Jackson, a former tight end in the NFL, spoke at the Chamber of Commerce banquet Monday night to encour- age a stronger community. Jackson last played for the Green Bay Packers and retired in 1996 after helping the Packers win Super Bowl XXXI. Jackson is now back in his home state of Arkansas, and has started an after-school program for at-risk children. He said he spoke at the banquet as a chance to share what his work is about. “I talk about the importance of giving back, the importance of community, importance of under- standing that it’s our time,” he said. “People have had their time to make a difference, now it’s our time to make a difference in our community.” Jackson said he started his program, P.A.R.K. (Positive Atmosphere Reaches Kids), because it was a vision from God. “I’ve never been motivated to do that kind of work in all my life and definitely didn’t have an educational background to start an after-school academic program,” he said. “But basically it was one of those programs where here is something we need in our commu- nity. So I started raising funds for three years, and the next thing you know we had 25 kids.” The program has grown since then. There are now approximately 250 kids in the program full-time, and 133 on college campuses around Arkansas. “It’s a long way from the begin- ning,” Jackson said. Jackson said he’s very hands-on with his program. “I’m a mother hen,” he said. “That’s the way I am. I sit there and watch it and make sure things go the way I think they should go. I’m there four or five days a week. The day I’m not there I’m usually speaking or at a football game. But for the most part I’m there every day. My office is upstairs, in the corner. I play with the kids, we shoot basketball and lift weights. I talk trash on them, I console them. I’m there every day. I enjoy it.” Jackson said his celebrity status helps to get kids in the program, but it eventually wears off. He said he uses his football career in many ways in the program, but the most important is the mindset. “Basically, when you go into a situation when you’re dealing with kids who struggle so much academically, financially, emo- tionally ... there’s a lot of letdown there,” he said. “There’s a lot of give up. So to actually be able to come in and change those attitudes to victory ... That’s what football did for me. You’ve got to see it before you can achieve it. That’s the same arguments I bring to the table every day with the students. You may be behind right now, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to lose the game. Vince Lombardi said it best when he said ‘winning is not a sometime thing, it’s an all time thing.’ You don’t win some of the time, you don’t do the right thing some of the time. You do it all the time. Winning’s a habit, but unfortunately so is losing. It’s just that whole notion that you have to think win, win, win.” Jackson also said he uses per- sonal anecdotes to relate to the kids. “When you deal with teenag- ers, they think you’ve never been where they are,” he said. “You’ve got to open yourself up and tell those stories where you didn’t achieve and you tried and you failed, or you made a mistake along the way. Those are the ones that build them up.” Jackson said one of the most rewarding times through the pro- gram is graduation day. “On graduation day, all of the kids that have gone through the program for five years get to walk across the stage in their different colors, and they get a chance to be introduced,” he said. “Then they talk about this kid had a 1.5 GPA and now has a 3.5 and made a 21 on his ACT and now is going to this college. There’s not a dry eye in the house when you get fin- ished. Everybody is crying. That is an unbelievable time.” Another rewarding thing about the program is the students who come back after completing it. “The students who have gradu- ated and have gone to college and now working — they come back and they say ‘you were right when you told me this. All you told us then, we’re using it now and that’s why we’re successful.’” Jackson said it all starts in each community. “It’s all about taking care of your own community,” he said. “I think if we make stronger com- munities, we’ll make a stronger city. If we make a stronger city, we’ll make a stronger state. That’s how we help one another. We start at home and be the best we can be in our community. Once we do that, it’ll snowball into affecting the whole state. Less people will be in poverty, less that are unedu- cated, etc. When you start doing that, you affect the numbers. It may be slow progress. Once you start biting at it, but sooner or later, if we all do our part, it’ll get ate.” Searcy teams split against Batesville Senior Elliott Scarbrough runs around a defender in the Lady Lions contest against Batesville Monday night. The Lady Lions lost 63-55 against the Pioneers. Annette Whitehead/[email protected] Senior Casey Wilmath goes for a layup in Monday’s game against Batesville, assisting the Lions in the 66-34 win. Wilmath led the team with seven 3-point shots and 25 points. Chris Blakley had 24 points in the game. Annette Whitehead/awhitehead@thedailycitizen. com Bisons fall to 3-1 with loss By Nathan Looney Special to The Daily Citizen TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – Terance Reaves hit a 3- pointer with one second remaining in overtime to lift Northeastern State over the Harding men’s basket- ball team 82-80 on Saturday afternoon in non-conference action. It was the first loss of the season for the Bisons as they fall to 3-1. Senior forward Kevin Brown hit two free throws with 13 seconds remaining in regulation to put Harding ahead 71-70. Northeastern State was fouled on their next possession to send Dominique Gaines to the foul line. Gaines had a chance to give the Riverhawks the lead but only converted 1-of-2 free throws. A last second Bison shot effort failed as they game went into over- time, 71-71. In overtime, Harding led by four, 80-76, after senior guard Stephen Blake made both of his free throws with 17 seconds left. Gaines hit a 3-pointer with 11 seconds left to pull Northeastern State within one. The Riverhawks quickly fouled which sent Blake to the line for two more free throws. Blake missed both of his attempts. The Riverhawks grabbed the rebound which led to the game winning basket by Reaves. Four Harding players fin- ished in double-figure scor- ing, leading the way was sophomore guard Bradley Spencer who had 19 points, hitting 8-of-11 from the field and 3-of-4 from behind the 3-point line. Brown hit 9-of- 9 from the free throw line and finished with 15 points for the Bisons. Junior forward Kirk Porter ended with 12 points and had a team-high eight rebounds. Freshman guard Hayden Johnson went 4-of-6 from the field and fin- ished with 11 points. Gaines led Northeastern State with 27 points, hit- ting 7-of-11 from the free throw line. Antoine Branch made seven 3-pointers and finished with 25 points for the Riverhawks. Jermaine Bransford had a game-high 10 rebounds for Northeastern State. The Bisons outrebound- ed the Riverhawks, 37-36. Harding also led the battle in the paint scoring 34 points to Northeastern State’s 18. The Bisons will be back in action on Nov. 27th as they travel to Carrollton, Ga., to face West Georgia at 1 p.m. Hogs’ linebacker to serve half-game suspension By Robbie Neiswanger Arkansas News Bureau FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas will be without one of its starting linebackers for the first half of Saturday’s game against No. 6 LSU. But Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino believes the 12th-ranked Razorbacks won’t be harmed by his absence. Senior Anthony Leon will serve a half-game suspen- sion, per NCAA rules, after being ejected in the third quarter of the 38-31 two- overtime win at Mississippi State last Saturday. Leon was tossed when, after an Arkansas fumble recovery, he punched a Mississippi State wide receiver. “We’ll work it out,” Petrino said. “We did OK the other night when we went without him.” Leon is Arkansas’ fourth- leading tackler (57) and ranks second on the team in tackles for losses (10 1/2). He has started every game after moving down from safety during preseason practice. Sophomore Terrell Williams filled in for Leon after the ejection and is in line for the starting spot this week. The Razorbacks also have veterans Jermaine Love and Freddy Burton, who could factor into the linebacker rotation as well Saturday. “He did a good job, played hard, played physi- cal,” Petrino said of Williams, who had seven tackles. “He made some real nice tackles. The best thing about Terrell is he’s been here and he understands the schemes. He’s playing faster every week.”
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The Daily Citizen
Transcript of Keith Jackson
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2010 SPORTSSECTION B
Interim Sports Editor Annette Whitehead501-268-8621
FORMER SUPER BOWL CHAMPION VISITS SEARCY
Daily CitizenThe
Former NFL tight end Keith Jackson speaks at the annual Searcy Chamber of Commerce banquet at Harding University Monday evening. Warren Watkins/[email protected]
Jackson talks about giving back By Annette [email protected] Jackson, a former tight
end in the NFL, spoke at the Chamber of Commerce
banquet Monday night to encour-age a stronger community.
Jackson last played for the Green Bay Packers and retired in 1996 after helping the Packers win Super Bowl XXXI.
Jackson is now back in his home state of Arkansas, and has started an after-school program for at-risk children.
He said he spoke at the banquet as a chance to share what his work is about.
“I talk about the importance of giving back, the importance of community, importance of under-standing that it’s our time,” he said. “People have had their time to make a difference, now it’s our time to make a difference in our community.”
Jackson said he started his program, P.A.R.K. (Positive Atmosphere Reaches Kids), because it was a vision from God.
“I’ve never been motivated to do that kind of work in all my life and definitely didn’t have an educational background to start an after-school academic program,” he said. “But basically it was one of those programs where here is something we need in our commu-
nity. So I started raising funds for three years, and the next thing you know we had 25 kids.”
The program has grown since then. There are now approximately 250 kids in the program full-time, and 133 on college campuses around Arkansas.
“It’s a long way from the begin-ning,” Jackson said.
Jackson said he’s very hands-on with his program.
“I’m a mother hen,” he said. “That’s the way I am. I sit there and watch it and make sure things go the way I think they should go. I’m there four or five days a week. The day I’m not there I’m usually speaking or at a football game. But for the most part I’m there every day. My office is upstairs, in the corner. I play with the kids, we shoot basketball and lift weights. I talk trash on them, I console them. I’m there every day. I enjoy it.”
Jackson said his celebrity status helps to get kids in the program, but it eventually wears off. He said he uses his football career in many ways in the program, but the most important is the mindset.
“Basically, when you go into a situation when you’re dealing with kids who struggle so much academically, financially, emo-tionally ... there’s a lot of letdown there,” he said. “There’s a lot of give up. So to actually be able to
come in and change those attitudes to victory ... That’s what football did for me. You’ve got to see it before you can achieve it. That’s the same arguments I bring to the table every day with the students. You may be behind right now, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to lose the game. Vince Lombardi said it best when he said ‘winning is not a sometime thing, it’s an all time thing.’ You don’t win some of the time, you don’t do the right thing some of the time. You do it all the time. Winning’s a habit, but unfortunately so is losing. It’s just that whole notion that you have to think win, win, win.”
Jackson also said he uses per-sonal anecdotes to relate to the kids.
“When you deal with teenag-ers, they think you’ve never been where they are,” he said. “You’ve got to open yourself up and tell those stories where you didn’t achieve and you tried and you failed, or you made a mistake along the way. Those are the ones that build them up.”
Jackson said one of the most rewarding times through the pro-gram is graduation day.
“On graduation day, all of the kids that have gone through the program for five years get to walk across the stage in their different colors, and they get a chance to be
introduced,” he said. “Then they talk about this kid had a 1.5 GPA and now has a 3.5 and made a 21 on his ACT and now is going to this college. There’s not a dry eye in the house when you get fin-ished. Everybody is crying. That is an unbelievable time.”
Another rewarding thing about the program is the students who come back after completing it.
“The students who have gradu-ated and have gone to college and now working — they come back and they say ‘you were right when you told me this. All you told us then, we’re using it now and that’s why we’re successful.’”
Jackson said it all starts in each community.
“It’s all about taking care of your own community,” he said. “I think if we make stronger com-munities, we’ll make a stronger city. If we make a stronger city, we’ll make a stronger state. That’s how we help one another. We start at home and be the best we can be in our community. Once we do that, it’ll snowball into affecting the whole state. Less people will be in poverty, less that are unedu-cated, etc. When you start doing that, you affect the numbers. It may be slow progress. Once you start biting at it, but sooner or later, if we all do our part, it’ll get ate.”
Searcy teams split against Batesville
Senior Elliott Scarbrough runs around a defender in the Lady Lions contest against Batesville Monday night. The Lady Lions lost 63-55 against the Pioneers. Annette Whitehead/[email protected]
Senior Casey Wilmath goes for a layup in Monday’s game against Batesville, assisting the Lions in the 66-34 win. Wilmath led the team with seven 3-point shots and 25 points. Chris Blakley had 24 points in the game. Annette Whitehead/[email protected]
Bisons fall to
3-1 with loss
By Nathan LooneySpecial to The Daily Citizen
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – Terance Reaves hit a 3-pointer with one second remaining in overtime to lift Northeastern State over the Harding men’s basket-ball team 82-80 on Saturday afternoon in non-conference action. It was the first loss of the season for the Bisons as they fall to 3-1.
Senior forward Kevin Brown hit two free throws with 13 seconds remaining in regulation to put Harding ahead 71-70. Northeastern State was fouled on their next possession to send Dominique Gaines to the foul line. Gaines had a chance to give the Riverhawks the lead but only converted 1-of-2 free throws. A last second Bison shot effort failed as they game went into over-time, 71-71.
In overtime, Harding led by four, 80-76, after senior guard Stephen Blake made both of his free throws with 17 seconds left. Gaines hit a 3-pointer with 11 seconds left to pull Northeastern State within one. The Riverhawks quickly fouled which sent Blake to the line for two more free throws. Blake missed both of his attempts. The Riverhawks grabbed the rebound which led to the game winning basket by Reaves.
Four Harding players fin-ished in double-figure scor-ing, leading the way was sophomore guard Bradley Spencer who had 19 points, hitting 8-of-11 from the field and 3-of-4 from behind the 3-point line. Brown hit 9-of-9 from the free throw line and finished with 15 points for the Bisons. Junior forward Kirk Porter ended with 12 points and had a team-high eight rebounds. Freshman guard Hayden Johnson went 4-of-6 from the field and fin-ished with 11 points.
Gaines led Northeastern State with 27 points, hit-ting 7-of-11 from the free throw line. Antoine Branch made seven 3-pointers and finished with 25 points for the Riverhawks. Jermaine Bransford had a game-high 10 rebounds for Northeastern State.
The Bisons outrebound-ed the Riverhawks, 37-36. Harding also led the battle in the paint scoring 34 points to Northeastern State’s 18.
The Bisons will be back in action on Nov. 27th as they travel to Carrollton, Ga., to face West Georgia at 1 p.m.
Hogs’ linebacker to serve half-game suspension
By Robbie NeiswangerArkansas News Bureau
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas will be without one of its starting linebackers for the first half of Saturday’s game against No. 6 LSU.
But Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino believes the 12th-ranked Razorbacks won’t be harmed by his absence.
Senior Anthony Leon will serve a half-game suspen-sion, per NCAA rules, after being ejected in the third quarter of the 38-31 two-overtime win at Mississippi State last Saturday. Leon was tossed when, after an Arkansas fumble recovery, he punched a Mississippi State wide receiver.
“We’ll work it out,” Petrino said. “We did OK the other night when we went without him.”
Leon is Arkansas’ fourth-leading tackler (57) and ranks second on the team in tackles for losses (10 1/2). He has started every game after moving down from safety during preseason practice.
Sophomore Terrell Williams filled in for Leon after the ejection and is in line for the starting spot this week. The Razorbacks also have veterans Jermaine Love and Freddy Burton, who could factor into the linebacker rotation as well Saturday.
“He did a good job, played hard, played physi-cal,” Petrino said of Williams, who had seven tackles. “He made some real nice tackles. The best thing about Terrell is he’s been here and he understands the schemes. He’s playing faster every week.”
