By Bob Kelley
Retired RLC Sports Information Director

INA, Ill. – To his credit, if Dean Jackson was a little disappointed in learning he was going to be inducted into the Rend Lake College Sports Hall of Fame with the Class of 2015, he never let it show.

Sure, the timing could have been better.  If only the Selection Committee had realized the irony of waiting one more year before voting him membership into the exclusive club.

Twelve months from now  –  assuming the 17th Annual RLC Sports HOF Induction Banquet falls on the same weekend as this one  –  the special day would fall on Saturday, April 16, the 50th Anniversary of a shutout thrown by the two-sport standout for the Mt. Vernon Community College Warriors in the first game of a doubleheader against Southeastern Illinois. And the 50th Anniversary of his wedding – April 16, 1966 – to his Wayne City High School sweetheart, Juanice.

Mound duties (well) done by 3 p.m. The usual second-game shortstop left the team between games, with the blessing of the coach and his teammates (the wedding save-the-date was planned in January, long before the baseball schedule was etched in stone). All cleaned up and to the church on time, by 6 p.m.

Perfect. What more could a guy want? Marrying the girl of his dreams and a shutout to boot. “I had a pretty good day,” he is the first to admit.

Almost perfect. As Mr. and Mrs. Jackson were leaving the church, Juanice posed a question. “Didn’t you forget to do something?” she asked.

“I forgot to kiss the bride,” he admits.

So will somebody please do what the minister obviously failed to do and remind the groom to kiss his bride when the Jacksons, their family and their new-found Hall-of-Fame Friends enjoy a belated 49th Anniversary celebration on Saturday, April 18, in the RLC Student Center at 5:30 p.m. Perfect.

Joining Jackson (MVCC, 1965-67), who actually enters with Hall-of-Fame credentials in Men’s Basketball, will be fellow hardwood old-timers Jerry Wilson (RLC, 1977-79) of Mt. Vernon and Michael Ayers (RLC, 1984-86) of Cairo, along with relative youngster Jennifer Wren (RLC, 1997-99), the former ace of the Lady Warrior Softball staff.

The Class of 2015 foursome not only represents four distinct decades of athletic prowess, it includes the honoree with the greatest gap between his/her playing days and induction date in Jackson, 48 years. Charter Member Lee Yearwood (MVCC Class of ’62) held the record at 38 years when he helped start the “club” in 2000.

Jackson, who taught mathematics and science, and Wilson are well-acquainted. They were both part of the Wayne City High School faculty for many years before the former’s retirement. The trio of older inductees brings the Men’s Basketball representation to eight among 36 individual student-athletes, nine teams, four relay squads, three coaches and three others to be elected in 16 years.

Jackson was listed at 5 feet 9 during his playing days. In spite of his hometown paper’s attempt to list him at 6-1 following the greatest offensive output of his career, the point guard concedes, “It is strange there was so much discrepancy, but I was 5-7 or 5-8 . . . I wish it had been bigger, but I cannot complain about my life. It has been good.”

During an era when hometown products dominated athletic rosters, the 5-8 import from Wayne City was Big Man on Campus for the Mt. Vernon C.C. Warriors in both sports.

No. 24 penetrated opposing defenses frequently enough with his quickness to set career records which stood for several years – 228 free throws in 317 attempts (.715) – thanks in large part to 78.2 percent accuracy as a sophomore (122-156).

When the 1965-66 quintet lost three starters at mid-season, the freshman was forced into a role which found him producing 27.2 percent of the team’s scoring. He finished with 366 points and 18.3 points-per-game, reaching double-figures in all but three of 20 games, including six with 20 or more. The crescendo came in the post-season, a 40-point explosion vs. the Olney Knights in a 57-48 loss.

“I know one thing… that wasn’t one of my better shooting games,” he recalled. “It was one of those nights a lot of my shots were in and out; I should have had 50. But our coach (first-year mentor R.G. “Bob” Isaacs) told me he wanted me to shoot it every chance I could, so I did what he asked.” His career-best single-game tally still ranks in the Warrior Top 10 all-time. There were four other games between 26 and 29 points that winter.

Sharing the backcourt as a sophomore with another prolific scorer, Mt. Vernon product Bill Kirk, Jackson still managed to record 26 points in the season-opener, reach double-digits in 18 of 21 outings and notch 20 or more a total of seven times.

Included were three consecutive 23-point efforts and later a 33-point gem versus Belleville. He averaged 17.3 ppg (364 points, 23.6 percent of total) and Coach Jim Waugh’s first Warrior team (and last MVCC contingent) finished 8-12. His hardwood career for the Warriors concluded with 730 points, behind only Yearwood and Larry Burkett at the time, and 17.9 ppg.

Complete statistics are not available for his two-year MVCC baseball career, but the pitcher-shortstop was 3-4 as a freshman for a best-to-date 7-9 team.

Jackson played two more seasons as an upperclassman for McKendree College. The winningest men’s coach ever at the four-year collegiate level, Harry Statham, recruited him for his second and third seasons on the Lebanon campus. National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Hall of Fame Coach Statham is still there, with 1,088 wins and counting after 49 seasons.  RLC’s Waugh finished with 500-plus wins and a berth in the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

The Bearcats won 19 games with Jackson as a key reserve his junior year and 22 the next as a starter. But his senior campaign was interrupted by a broken ankle which cost him 6-8 weeks; he returned in time to help his team advance in the playoffs to within one victory of the NAIA National Tournament.

Both a husband and father by then, and still feeling the effects somewhat of the broken ankle, Jackson did not play baseball for McKendree as a senior.

Dean and Juanice Jackson are the parents of four adult children  –  next-door neighbors Dena (High School Principal Myron) Caudle and Shelly (Chris) Bailey; oldest son Dennis Jackson of Kansas City, and Scott Jackson of Indianapolis. They are proud grandparents of eight.

Perfect ending to the perfect story? Not quite. That missing kiss. “My wife never lets me forget about it,” he chuckled.