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Class of 1979
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William S. "Pedie" Jackson
Pedie Jackson, a star player and coach in basketball and football at Emory & Henry College, was so revered that his grid-coaching tenure with the Wasps is still fondly recalled as Jackson’s Era. Over a seven-year span, his football teams compiled a 62-13-4 record and tallied 1,378 points while limiting the opposition to only 348. Thirty-six of those sixty-two wins were consecutive victories.
After proving his mettle as a mentor in several high schools and Concord College in West Virginia, Jackson returned to his alma mater and lifted Emory & Henry to national small college football fame. In his first season as head football coach, Jackson led the Wasps to an undefeated season. In addition to his football coaching duties, Jackson also coached the Wasps baseball team, whose roster included many later famed players, including Alec Levicki. He later served as Athletic Director.
After leaving Emory & Henry in 1935, Jackson coached at several other colleges before his untimely passing at the age of 40. The feats of Pedie Jackson’s Boys live on, including victories over state rivals William & Mary, Virginia Military Institute, and Richmond. Utilizing Jackson’s version of the Notre Dame box formation made famous by Knute Rockne, Emory & Henry also maintained a strong rivalry with Wake Forest and the Thundering Herd of Marshall University.
So strong was the camaraderie of Jackson’s Boys that 39 of the 82 known ex-players under him attended a homecoming at Emory & Henry in 1977 to mark the 50th anniversary of Jackson’s first year of coaching the Wasps.
(To Sports Inductees List) |
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