OPINION — BEING BLESSED with God-given athletic ability may have given her a start in life, but family is what gave Andrea Jackson her great work-ethic. And she shared that sense of family with her son David, who’ll no doubt some day join her in the Mercer County Athleic Hall of Fame.

Jackson’s parents, Dorothy and Toby, raised her and brothers Gregory, Michael and Toby on love, work, athletics and education.

“Absolutely!” Jackson recently asserted. “My folks worked hard, and they gave us the opportunity to see different things. They traveled with us at a time — you know, my folks were a little older — and it was a time when you didn’t fly; everywhere, you drove. ... A lot of my friends never left the state of Pennsylvania, but we went all over the country, seeing things,” she recalled.

“My mother and father, their mantra was, ‘You’re gonna see and do more than we ever did.’”

Which is interesting, because Andrea returned the favor years later, chaperoning her parents all over the country’s heartland while they followed David’s collegiate cage career for Penn State University.

Andrea’s athleticism is a product of her first coaches and mentors.

“I’m the youngest. With three older brothers, I was kind’ve the ‘crash-test dummy.’ If one was a quarterback and needed a receiver, he’d send me out (to catch passes) ... if he needed a center to hike him the ball, I would do that ... or if he wanted to ‘abuse’ somebody on the basketball court. ... Now that I look back on it,” a chuckling Andrea admitted, “maybe it was just to get his ego up, and I was that.

“But I credit my brothers a lot, and they all had different impacts,” she continued prior to the 66th annual anniversary induction banquet. “My oldest (Gregory) played basketball at Waynesburg, and that’s where my love of basksetball came from. We used to travel to watch him play, and that’s when I got my love of the college atmostphere of basketball. That was always a great weekend, when we got to see him play.”

A self-described “Daddy’s Girl,” being the youngest child and only daughter had its advantages.

“(Toby Sr.) was very reserved, but anything I wanted or I needed, he was the first one to get it. My mom and brothers,” a giggling Andrea recalled, “would often say, ‘Go ask dad if we can do that,’ and it would be done.

“My dad worked in the mill,” continued the former Farrell High 2-sport standout. “He built our house, and he made sure education was first and foremost in our lives. There were no options there. Some kids’ll say, ‘Well, maybe I’ll go to college,’ but there was no ‘maybe’ in our lives. It was, ‘When you go to  college, you’ll do well, you’ll be successful. He broke his back to make sure we had everything possible that we needed to get to that point,” she emphasized.

However Andrea did not always get her way. Having just turned 18, she experienced devastating disappointment as a member of the 1980 United States women’s Olympic volleyball team. Owing to politics, then-President Jimmy Carter ordered America to boycott those Games.

“That memory never leaves you, it’s always there,” Andrea admitted. “I can tell you exactly where I was. At the time we were in Colorado Springs (at the U.S. Olympic Training Center). We had a routine in the moring, (weight-)lifting, then practice. I was on a weight bench, and we just stopped. The television was on, the news came on ... and there was just silence. No one would say anything for a while, then ... the tears.

“For me it was a bad situation, but I felt worse for the others,” Andrea admitted. “I had just left college to join them a couple months before, so it wasn’t as bad for me. But there were girls that had been there for three years leading up to (the Games), and some girls who’d been there longer. That would’ve been their last go-round. That was the worst part for me; I felt really bad for them.”

She believed, given her age, that there would be additional opportunities.

“Absolutely! But that’s youth,” she said. “You’re always looking forward to the next big thing, and you don’t ever think there’s ever going to be anything that’ll stop you at that point (in life). That was my only day in that situation. I had other days that were good, but not as good as that, that I could represent my country.”

And also owing to the timing of Andrea’s athletic exploits, there were few opportunities for women following the expiration of their collegiate eligibililty.

“I think ‘what would have been’ in a lot of things,” Andrea admitted. “I think then (the Olympics),  if I had been able to go, what would have been. If I had chosen basketball instead of volleyball, because that also was an option. I always wonder what would’ve been if I’d had the options that these kids do now. They have an option to continue playing in the WNBA ... and there’s always European leagues. But when I  played it was not the same thing, and in volleyball ... you knew that after you finished college, you were done.”

Jackson channeled her energies into coaching at Youngstown State University, then David’s exploits. What’s that literary line, “ ... Miles to go before I sleep ... ”?

“All ... over ... the ... world,” she said through a smile, quickly adding, “And I wouldn’t give it up for anything. We missed entire summers ... being on the road when he started with AAU, which was a great thing. He was comfortable, and I think (traveling at a young age) when he was going off to college, that was one of the things that made him comfortable ... it just carried over to Penn State, because he was used to that.”

These days David’s travel is more extensive. He’s playing professionally in Iceland.

“We talk and text every day,” Andrea related. “He was just home for Christmas, so (returning to the Shenango Valley for her induction) would’ve been tough for him to come back again.

“But he’s so proud. He’s my biggest supporter, He’s said, ‘Mom, anything you want, anything you need, I’ll get it for you, I’ll do it for you,” she continued, “A lot of the things he’s done he’s said, ‘I do because of the family.’ He’s a family guy. I miss him being (at the ceremony), but I know he’s here with me in my heart.”

How Andrea nutured her son was taught to her and her brothers a generation before. It is one of the traits that made — and continues to make — the Jackson family so beloved in this valley. How could you not love and respect people of that type of integrity, resolve, dedication? 

“My mom and dad were the biggest sports fans ever!” Andrea related. “They followed me, my brothers and my son everywhere, even when it wasn’t feasible for them to — they were always there for me.

“And I know they’re here now,” she said while standing in The Park Inn-Radisson courtyard.  “My mom is just smiling, just beaming, and my dad is smiling, also. I know they’re looking down, and they’re happy.”



Ed Farrell is assistant sports editor for The Herald