Catching Up With…Mark Jackson, #80.

January 11, 1987. Cleveland, Ohio. The Denver Broncos were playing the Cleveland Browns in the AFC Championship Game with the winner going to the Superbowl. On this frigid day in Cleveland, the Browns were leading the Broncos 20-13 with five minutes and 32 seconds left in the fourth quarter. The Broncos had the ball on their own two yard line. But hey, what was 98 yards?

The Broncos, led by then QB, John Elway, started moving the ball down the field. One first down, then another…and on a third-and-one with the clock ticking down, Elway threw the ball to a rookie WR named Mark Jackson, who on that play scored the touchdown that tied the game at 20-20. That series would come to be known as “.” To this day it is one of the biggest moments in sports history and the Broncos would go on to win the game in OT and play in the Superbowl.

Mark Jackson grew up in Chicago, IL. The youngest of 5 siblings (there is a 10 year age difference between his next youngest sibling and himself), he started to play organized football because it was a sport that allowed him to participate and compete. Yet, because he wasn’t developed enough, he would usually watch his older cousins and siblings from the sidelines and cheer them on. When he came of age to play, Jackson only got better and better, “I would play any time, no matter the weather.”

“Sports was the ability to be accepted,” Jackson said in a recent sit-down interview with me. “We all want to be accepted and recognized.”

He received a scholarship offer from Rose Homan Institute of Technology, located in Terre Haute, IN, one of the top technology colleges in the U.S. “I was more smart than I was athletically talented,” explains Jackson. “But I really wanted to play football. Of course I wanted to get my degree, graduate and earn a great living; I wasn’t really focused on playing professional football, but I had always wanted to play in a big stadium and Purdue offered that. So I went to Purdue University.”

A walk-on at Purdue, Jackson played WR, “I never weighed more than 160 going into college,” he said and being a walk-on didn’t come without its challenges. “Scholarship players got great meals and we would have to hurry after practice, rush back to the dorm and hope we made it in time to get the meal at the dorm. Sometimes we would make it. Sometimes we wouldn’t.”

“Walk-ons didn’t get a lot of reps,” he continued to explain, “I was 5th or 6th on the depth chart as far as getting the opportunity to play and that lasted four years. It wasn’t until my junior year that I at least started to get recognized.” As a 5th senior year Jackson was offered a scholarship and he found himself starting, splitting time with another receiver.

The Denver Broncos recognized Jackson’s talent and drafted him in the 6th round in 1986. He was up to 180 lbs. when drafted. He won a position as the 4th receiver on the team, behind Steve Watson, Vance Johnson and Clint Sampson.

Any Expectations? “Oh yeah. You have to have expectations. They weren’t ‘I’m going to tear up the world expectations’,” he laughs. “My first goal was to make the team, get some playing time and then contribute and make a difference. I came in on a lot of 3rd down situations. Caught a lot of balls, made a lot of first downs.”

A difference maker, the Broncos would go on to play in the AFC Championship game vs. Cleveland during Mark Jackson’s rookie year, beating the Browns in OT and continuing on to the Superbowl.

“Football is an awesome sport no matter where you play it. The game we played in ’86 was actually played in the baseball stadium (Paul Brown Stadium) and I remember how far away the seats were from the field.”

Many readers of BAC Magazine and Broncos fans remember “The 3 Amigos” (and no, not the movie). This exciting trio which included Jackson and fellow wide receivers, Vance Johnson and , got their nickname after playing the Chicago Bears on Monday Night Football in 1987 after all three receivers scored TD’s in what turned out to be a close game.

Johnson went on to play in the pros for nine years, which included stops in Indianapolis and with the NY Giants, where he led the team with receiving yards, receptions and was second on the team with TD’s. Despite his impressive statistics, he found himself cut during the bye-week. It would be the last time he laced up the cleats as a professional football player.

I asked Jackson how he knew he was “done?”

“I just kind-of lost my zest for the game and realized this was it for me” he explained.

Jackson retired and took six years off and spent the time building businesses, getting his real estate license, mortgage license and insurance license. While he doesn’t see coaching in his future, Jackson recently made his radio debut with Gil Whiteley on Mile High Radio (AM 1340; FM 104.7). Their show, “Anything Can Happen with Mark Jackson and Gil Whiteley” airs from 11am – 12pm, Monday-Friday.

You can also find Jackson very active in the Denver Broncos Alumni Association, founded in 1991 as a way for former players to become positive ambassadors in the community on behalf of the Denver Broncos. “There are over 100 members and we work with a number of charity organizations throughout the city of Denver. We have a lot of fun meeting some very cool people and Broncos fans along the way.”

His biggest passion however (aside from his two children) is the HOPE Movement, an organization focused on eradicating childhood malnutrition. “6 million kids worldwide die of malnutrition each day,” Jackson explained. “That is one child every six seconds”. The HOPE Movement has already donated more than 9 million servings of nutrients and nourishment for children around the world, but as Jackson states, “we still have a lot of work to do.”

As our conversation wrapped up, I asked Jackson what advice he would give others. He answered with a big smile across his face, “Be PASSIONATE about what you do. Passion makes things far easier. Be CONFIDENT in who you are; ALWAYS accept help and learn to ask for it when you need it. Lastly, NEVER, NEVER QUIT.” For more information on the HOPE Movement please visit: https://www.evolvhealth.com/about/eswpn/eswpn-markjackson/