Former Canadian Football League QB joins Continental Indoor Football League
By Tim May
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Stanley Jackson, chatting at the Memorial, is playing for the Marion Mayhem of the Continental Indoor Football League."
Stanley Jackson, chatting at the Memorial, is playing for the Marion Mayhem of the Continental Indoor Football League.
A last chance has turned into a new beginning for Stanley Jackson.
The former Ohio State quarterback moved his family from Arkansas to Marion, Ohio, this year in his quest for a final shot at pro football. Even if it has come with the Marion Mayhem of the Continental Indoor Football League, the bottom rung on the ladder to the NFL, it was a step up two years removed from his final cut from the Canadian Football League.
"When you've played for so long, the first year of retirement was pretty easy, but the second year was pretty rough, just watching it and missing it," Jackson said. "So I thought I would just come back to the area and play a little football, move my family back here, be around old teammates, and at the same time get some leads on the next step after football."
While he has starred for the Mayhem (3-5) headed toward its next home game June 9 in Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Jackson has found a toehold for his off-field future as a business development officer for Commercial Savings Bank in Marion.
"So I am not so sure now about football down the road, with a family that is expanding, with two boys (3 and 1) and my beautiful wife Ronita," Jackson said. "This is a very good job."
Still, the drive to play football is there for Jackson, 32, even if it meant moving his family into a team-subsidized apartment while he plays for maybe $300 per game.
"When you love the game like I love it, of course you miss it," Jackson said. "You miss the camaraderie of a team, all that stuff, you don't get that anyplace else. And the game itself is the greatest game ever created."
There was a time when he was considered one of its better prospects, which is why Ohio State recruited the running/throwing quarterback out of New Jersey in 1993.
OSU fans might remember him as the man who shared time with Joe Germaine in 1996-97, who was a force in wins over Notre Dame and Penn State in '96 and threw the first touchdown pass against Arizona State in the Rose Bowl victory.
Jackson had a cup of coffee in the NFL, then spent seven years in the Canadian Football League, with Montreal, Toronto and Winnipeg. Just when things were going good for him in Toronto in 2002, a major knee injury ended his season.
"All of that compared to this, it's a lot different," Jackson said. "And now I'm sort of in the twilight, the second-oldest player on the team. So my perspective has changed. But I think that allows me to be a better player."
Jackson stands third in the league in passing and total offense.
"He can still run like a gazelle," Mayhem general manager/coach Nathan DeGasperis said. "One of his first games with us was down in Troy, Ohio, and he had a 44-yard run where he was dodging guys in the open field. I actually caught myself giggling like a little kid, it was so amazing."
Jackson was laughing, too.
"Friends keep asking me, 'What are you doing? You're not making much money. You're beating up your body,' " Jackson said. "But they don't understand. Just to have the opportunity to keep playing a game I love, it's great."
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Stanley Jackson, chatting at the Memorial, is playing for the Marion Mayhem of the Continental Indoor Football League."
Stanley Jackson, chatting at the Memorial, is playing for the Marion Mayhem of the Continental Indoor Football League.
A last chance has turned into a new beginning for Stanley Jackson.
The former Ohio State quarterback moved his family from Arkansas to Marion, Ohio, this year in his quest for a final shot at pro football. Even if it has come with the Marion Mayhem of the Continental Indoor Football League, the bottom rung on the ladder to the NFL, it was a step up two years removed from his final cut from the Canadian Football League.
"When you've played for so long, the first year of retirement was pretty easy, but the second year was pretty rough, just watching it and missing it," Jackson said. "So I thought I would just come back to the area and play a little football, move my family back here, be around old teammates, and at the same time get some leads on the next step after football."
While he has starred for the Mayhem (3-5) headed toward its next home game June 9 in Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Jackson has found a toehold for his off-field future as a business development officer for Commercial Savings Bank in Marion.
"So I am not so sure now about football down the road, with a family that is expanding, with two boys (3 and 1) and my beautiful wife Ronita," Jackson said. "This is a very good job."
Still, the drive to play football is there for Jackson, 32, even if it meant moving his family into a team-subsidized apartment while he plays for maybe $300 per game.
"When you love the game like I love it, of course you miss it," Jackson said. "You miss the camaraderie of a team, all that stuff, you don't get that anyplace else. And the game itself is the greatest game ever created."
There was a time when he was considered one of its better prospects, which is why Ohio State recruited the running/throwing quarterback out of New Jersey in 1993.
OSU fans might remember him as the man who shared time with Joe Germaine in 1996-97, who was a force in wins over Notre Dame and Penn State in '96 and threw the first touchdown pass against Arizona State in the Rose Bowl victory.
Jackson had a cup of coffee in the NFL, then spent seven years in the Canadian Football League, with Montreal, Toronto and Winnipeg. Just when things were going good for him in Toronto in 2002, a major knee injury ended his season.
"All of that compared to this, it's a lot different," Jackson said. "And now I'm sort of in the twilight, the second-oldest player on the team. So my perspective has changed. But I think that allows me to be a better player."
Jackson stands third in the league in passing and total offense.
"He can still run like a gazelle," Mayhem general manager/coach Nathan DeGasperis said. "One of his first games with us was down in Troy, Ohio, and he had a 44-yard run where he was dodging guys in the open field. I actually caught myself giggling like a little kid, it was so amazing."
Jackson was laughing, too.
"Friends keep asking me, 'What are you doing? You're not making much money. You're beating up your body,' " Jackson said. "But they don't understand. Just to have the opportunity to keep playing a game I love, it's great."
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