Norfolk teacher, referee now is author
Timothy Jackson is a teacher in Norfolk Public Schools. He’s also been a basketball referee for 15 years and a football official for 12 years, including the past six in college.
Now, he has added author to his résumé.
Jackson didn’t set out to write a book, but as a former Division I athlete, he decided to write one after coming in contact with so many athletes and hearing their stories — both good and bad — about the recruiting process.
He remembers having a discussion with a college football player while he was officiating a practice.
“Is this how you thought college sports would be like?” Jackson asked the frustrated athlete.
The athlete’s response? “No, I thought it was going to be fun.”
Jackson started to outline the idea for his book in 2016.
“I thought I would just put together a little book or pamphlet,” he said. “And it just snowballed because there are so many things kids just don’t know, and all the things I wished I would have known.”
After sending out questionnaires and doing more than 50 interviews with athletes, coaches, parents, administrators, counselors and administrators, Jackson had his book ready.
And instead of coming up with a catchy title, he decided to make it simple and called it, “Understanding College Athletics Through the Eyes of College Athletes.”
“The emphasis was, ‘What do you wish somebody would have told you? What are some of the things you wish you would have known?” he said. “I think the difference between this and everything else that’s out there is this is from the perspective of the athlete.”
He got athletes from many sports, including football and basketball, but also lacrosse, field hockey, baseball and track to share their stories.
“Everyone was so eager to tell their story and share their piece of advice,” he said. “So I said, ‘Let’s take this information and tell their story.’ And it became a series of stories.”
Jackson wishes such a book had been available when he was in high school.
Jackson was a 6-foot-4 power forward at Canton McKinley High in Ohio. The school is a sports power.
The football program is ranked in the top 10 nationally with more than 850 wins. The Bulldogs have won numerous state titles and two national titles, including in 1997. The school has produced multiple college and NFL players, including former first-round pick Percy Snow, Pro Football Hall of Famer Marion Motley and current Las Vegas Raiders coach Josh McDaniels.
In basketball, Canton McKinley is Ohio’s all-time winningest program. The Bulldogs have won three state titles and have finished runner-up eight times, holding the record for the most state championship appearances.
During Jackson’s time, the Bulldogs lost in the region final his junior year and finished as state runner-up his senior year.
Jackson earned a scholarship to Youngstown State, started a school-record 112 games and holds the school record for career minutes (3,484). He is one of just four players in school history with more than 1,000 points and at least 800 rebounds. He ranks ninth in school history with 1,531 points and was inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame in 2006.
Now 52, Jackson thought it was important to share with other athletes.
“I did not want to put out something that was already out there,” he said. “And I also didn’t want to throw something together. I wanted to be meticulous about telling the story and making sure it’s not the same information that you see in other books now. The point was getting people to understand college athletics. And I’m telling it through the eyes of the athletes.”
His premise was backed by numerous people at Youngstown State University, including members of the board of trustees and its president, Jim Tressel, the former Ohio State football coach.
Topics include time management, habits vs. goals, dealing with injuries, surviving the mental obstacles in college athletics, getting over emotional hurdles, the importance of guidance counselors and why athletes should consider Ivy League, military academies and Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
But the biggest takeaway came after he spoke to the Youngstown State athletic director.
“He told me, ‘Have good grades because you’re probably more likely to get an academic scholarship than you are an athletic scholarship,” Jackson said. “That was something that I had never heard before.”
Only 7% of high school athletes (1 in 13) play college sports. And less than 2% (1 in 57) play Division I athletics.
He also wants athletes to realize that there’s nothing wrong with going to a Division II, Division III or junior college.
“Just because you don’t play Division I doesn’t mean you’re a failure,” Jackson said. “But some athletes and parents think that.
That’s the mentality that we have to break. If you’re a college athlete — at any level — you’re among the elite.”
The independently published book, which came out last month, can be purchased on Amazon for $6.95.
“Several people have asked me, ‘Why so cheap?’ ” Jackson said, laughing. “Because it’s about the information in the book. I’m not trying to make money off of it. I wrote it because all these kids don’t know these things. This is my give-back. I couldn’t give it away for free, but this is information that has to get out.”
His hope is that his book will educate others on what he didn’t know.
“You don’t even have to like sports to read it. The stories are amazing,” he said. “But for those of us who played sports, these are things we wish we would have known. My goal is for this to be in guidance counselors’ offices, athletic directors’ offices and every coach’s office.
“And for parents, if you have a teenager who you want to play in college, you need this. I’m not going to guarantee you’re going to play in college, but this will help you be prepared.”