SRA’s Jordan going into Gridiron Hall
Quarterback did it all to help Saints win ’55 title
PAWTUCKET – Don Payton admittedly “flipped” when he discovered in 2012 he had been chosen for induction into the prestigious Providence Gridiron Club Hall of Fame.
He had been selected, he was told, for his contributions to the offensive line on the 1955 St. Raphael Academy varsity football team, which finished the campaign with a perfect 10-0 mark and as the state champion. It’s still regarded as arguably the best SRA squad the school ever fielded.
After the ceremony, one in which Payton (who furthered his football career at Northeastern University) reveled, he began to think about not only his role on that Saints’ squad, but also those of his teammates.
“I noticed that Saints team that I played on, the guys who made the team click, hadn’t received the recognition it deserved,” noted Payton. “I saw that a lot of Providence teams had guys in the hall, and that others already in had brought some of their teammates in.
“We had such a great team, I wanted to do something about it. I mean, we were unbeaten at 10-0, we won the state title and we had the top two leaders in the state in scoring in (halfback) Jim Sullivan and (quarterback) Jackie Jordan.
“Jim had 130 points and Jackie 94 as an option quarterback, and it was very seldom that two guys in the same backfield would be 1-2 in a state in points scored,” he added. “I nominated Jimmy first, and he got in. Then I nominated Jackie, and nobody deserves it more than him.”
Several weeks back, Payton learned his former teammate, the 1955-56 victor of the Barry Memorial Award as the state’s Most Outstanding Athlete, and good friend had been selected by the HOF committee.
Jordan posthumously will join fellow area legends John Abbate and Frank Iannetta at the ceremony slated for Wed., Nov. 8 at 7 p.m. at the Quonset “O” Club in North Kingstown.
A brunch also has been scheduled for the previous Sunday, Nov. 5, at Rhode Island Country Club in Barrington.
“His career in football is really extensive,” Payton stated. “Just look at what he accomplished and did for the game. He played, he coached; he was such a good athlete. He was an All-State quarterback and (All-State) pitcher for the baseball team, and received first-team All-(Blackstone) Valley honors in basketball.
“He was a natural, but he also worked extremely hard,” he continued. “I remember walking past his desk in school, and I’d see him jotting down X’s and O’s on a piece of paper, plays that would work to help our offense. You know, our coach (the legendary) Bob Condon, actually used a few. Jackie was a tremendous student of the game.
“He was so good at handling the ball, he never fumbled a snap or a handoff, at least not in my memory, and he was never injured. He was the consummate perfectionist. If he missed a pass, which wasn’t often, he’d regroup. Of course, we didn’t throw that much, but half of the ones he did throw went to another All-State receiver, Charlie Olobri.”
Offered Sullivan, still the points school record holder for SRA: “We were very lucky to have a guy like Jackie under center, and also a lot of really good athletes at every position. He was the best quarterback in the state by far. You know, there’s a really funny story that Don and I often talk about. He’d say to me, ‘Jim, you’re duck-toed, and Jackie’s pigeon-toed, so you guys are Mr. Inside and Outside! Defensive players can never tell which way you guys are going to run! It’s unbelievable!’
“My toes always pointed toward each other and Jackie’s both pointed outward quite significantly,” he added. “Don would say, ‘That’s why you’re so good. You confuse our opponents with your feet!’”
According to Jordan’s wife Jan, a San Luis Obispo, Calif. native, she and Jack had been married for 47 magnificent years before he died from complications with cancer at age 72 on March 15, 2010.
“I wish he was here for this,” she confessed from the same home in Stockton, Calif. she made with Jack decades ago. “I know he’d be overwhelmed. He never talked about how good he was (as an athlete or coach), but he never forgot his roots or where he came from, and he especially never forgot St. Ray’s.”
Not long after the couple were married in Jan’s home state in 1964, the Jordans flew back to Rhode Island, and “the first thing he showed me was his old school, St. Raphael. We walked its hallowed halls together, and he was lost in all the memories that came flooding back. He just loved it.”
Most of his family members will making the trek back to the Ocean State in the next week or so for the event, and they will include Jan; son Jeff, wife Miranda and son Jackson, five (naturally named for his famed grandfather); Jack’s sisters, Jean Thompson (and husband) of Wakefield and Paige Jordan of New York City; and close friend Susan Scarnecchia, the wife of New England Patriots’ offensive line coach Dante Scarnecchia.
(Jack and Dante actually spent years coaching together at the University of the Pacific in Stockton between 1970-77).
“Jack was one of the best coaches I’ve ever worked with,” Scarnecchia explained. “He was a great worker, a tireless recruiter and a guy who always cared about all the players in our program. He used to host weekly dinners at his home for the players, where the emphasis was on etiquette and manners. He took pride in finding his players athletic scholarships so that they could continue their path to college graduation.
“You know, Jack and I would always talk about where he grew up, (but) he never said much about his athletic endeavors other than he played sports in high school and college. When (Susan and I) moved to New England in 1982, I started to hear more about Jack Jordan and his extraordinary high school career.”
Upon graduating from SRA, Jordan went to Rollins College in Florida to play baseball, yet transferred to Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah for football, as head coach Hal Kopp, former mentor at the University of Rhode Island, was coaching there.
He apparently became injured, so transferred once more to Cal Poly Tech in San Luis Obispo, where he played and eventually graduated in 1964.
That stint at Cal Poly proved instrumental in his life, as he met Jan and later married her there.
Not long after, he worked as a grid coach at Mission Catholic High, then Riverdale High, where he led his Cowboys to a championship and – not surprisingly – earned the California Interscholastic Federation’s Coach of the Year in the process.
He moved on to UOP in Stockton, then became an assistant coach at the University of Arizona in 1978. A year after his arrival, the Wildcats produced a phenomenal campaign and were invited to play in the 1979 Fiesta Bowl up the highway in Tempe
In 1980, officials with San Joaquin Delta Community College hired Jack, and he spent the next 14 years there. In fact, he mentored son Jeff at that same school, and he eventually followed his dad’s footsteps into coaching as well.
Jeff became the head coach of Butte Community College near Chico, Calif., and there worked with a then no-name signal caller. That proved to be Aaron Rodgers, who later starred at Cal-Berkeley and for the Green Bay Packers before his recent injury.
In 1990, the elder Jordan served as the pres- ident of the California Community College Football Coaches Association, and – get this – upon retirement, became the San Joaquin Delta golf coach.
Most of his former students and players became lifelong pals because he instilled in them dedication and devotion to family and close friends.
Three years ago, he earned enshrinement into the Stockton Athletic Hall of Fame, and for good reason.
“He loved coaching and he loved his players,” wife Jan stated. “He was the oldest of six kids, so as soon as he graduated from St. Ray’s, he moved out, going to Rollins in Winter Park, Fla. I also know he played with the father of (Super Bowl champion San Francisco 49ers’ quarterback) Steve Young while at BYU.
“How he ended up at Cal Poly is quite a story,” she added with a chuckle. “He had been working in Los Angeles, but he had traveled to Canada to play semi-pro baseball up there. That team folded, so he came back down and made a stop in San Luis Obispo.
“Fred Whittingham, a fellow Rhode Islander, was playing at Poly, so Jack decided to play there … Jack never talked about his accomplishments, but always spoke of all of his friends back in Pawtucket and at St. Ray’s. His association with his teammates and players, it was so strong, and I felt it, too.
“I remember once he had a player whose wife was going to have a baby when we were at UOP,” she continued. “He was a running back and Jack was the running backs coach. I know the kid didn’t have any medical insurance, so when his wife went into labor, Jack went down to the hospital to say he’d take care of it, meaning he’d pay for the child’s birth.
“He was very giving, no question. I remember when he died, our son Jeff said, ‘You know, Mom? We need to contact St. Ray’s and set up a memorial scholarship fund for him. Of course, we did, but it’s not a very big one.
“You know, he never lost his accent, and he always celebrated St. Patrick’s Day; he must have brought that back from Rhode Island. We always celebrated it, so I had to learn how to cook corned beef and cabbage!
“I wish he could be there (for the induction).”
So do his former teammates and friends who will honor him one last time at the “O” Club.
For more information on the fete, or to purchase tickets, call PGC President Robert Izzi at (401) 378-4393 or e-mail him at robert.izzi@aol.com.