Black History Month 2021 Profile: Rich Jackson

Allstate Sugar Bowl Sports Awards Committee Highlights the Careers of Black Legends from New Orleans

The Allstate Sugar Bowl Sports Awards Committee will highlight the accomplishments of eight outstanding sports figures as it celebrates Black History Month this February.

The sports figures, all members of the Allstate Sugar Bowl’s Greater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame, had careers which combined to span nearly 100 years of history. They include a pair of Olympic medalists, a record-setting volleyball player, an All-American scoring machine on the basketball court, a baseball star from the early days of the sport, an ageless tennis legend, one of the hardest hitting players in NFL history and a wordsmith who chronicled the achievements of these athletes and many more for over 60 years.

The Sugar Bowl will share these memorable stories via its social media channels throughout the month of February with posts each Wednesday and Friday at noon.

New Orleans Legends (names won’t be posted until we post on social media):

Rich Jackson – Football, 1961-72

Nehemiah Atkinson – Tennis, 1940s-2000

Javonne Brooks – Volleyball, 1988-92

Walter Wright – Baseball, 1925-39

Dr. Thomas Hill – Track & Field, 1966-77

Aaron James – Basketball, 1966-70

Audrey Patterson-Tyler – Track & Field, 1940-96

R.L. Stockard – Writer/Historian, 1950-2017

February 3 Legend: Rich Jackson – Football

Playing for the legendary coach Felix James, also a member of the Greater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame, at New Orleans’ Landry High School, Rich “Tombstone” Jackson showed his outstanding skills and determination as a 210-pound end. When a Landry sprinter beat Jackson in a 100-yard race, then chided him, “You’re too big to beat me,” Jackson spent the entire school year working on his speed. When track season came around, Jackson convinced Coach James he could match speed with the school’s best sprinter. And he did just that, outracing him to the finish line to earn a spot on the Bucs’ relay team.

But football would always be his primary pursuit. As a senior in 1959, he led Landry to the district championship and earned a spot on the Southern University football team. A four-year starter at linebacker and defensive end, he also saw time on offense for the powerhouse Jaguar team. He also didn’t forget his track roots – though not as a sprinter. He won seven SWAC track championships (four in the discus and three in the shotput) and still holds the Louisiana collegiate shot-put record.

Undrafted after a productive career at Southern University, Jackson signed as a free agent with Oakland in 1966. He became a three-time All-Pro defensive end in five-plus seasons with the Denver Broncos, but a devastating knee injury in 1971 would end his career. Despite the brevity of his career, he was a charter member of the Broncos’ “Ring of Fame” at Mile High Stadium. In 1999, Paul Zimmerman, Dr. Z of Sports Illustrated, picked Jackson as one of his starting defensive ends on his all-time NFL team and in 2014, the Denver Post called him “the toughest Bronco who ever lived.”

“When I think of him, I think of pain,” Chiefs Hall of Fame quarterback Len Dawson said. “I can remember he nailed me and knocked the breath out of me.”

“People want to know why they call me Tombstone. That’s the termination of life, a symbol of death, the end of the road — how you like that?” Tombstone told the Denver Post in 2014. “When I came to line up across somebody, I just had the mentality of ‘search and destroy.’ I would look straight through the linemen at the quarterback, and when I took off, it was just like the guys weren’t there. I had moves to eliminate that person. I prided myself that no one lineman could block me.”

In 67 games with the Broncos, he recorded 43 sacks according to the Broncos – that would average out to 10.3 sacks in today’s 16-game season.

In addition to the Greater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame and the Broncos’ Ring of Fame, Jackson has been inducted into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame, the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and the Black College Football Hall of Fame.