Jackson State University football great W.C. Gorden inspired cheers among students, faculty and staff at a Founders Week panel discussion on football and band Wednesday.
So intent was the crowd to hear every word, you could have heard a pin drop in the packed Dollye M.E. Robinson Liberal Arts Building auditorium once the initial applause subsided and Gorden, JSU’s winningest football coach, took the lectern.
But that soon changed to shouts of joy and encouragement as the NCAA Hall of Fame coach began telling tales about his long and illustrious career at Jackson State.
Among his recollections was recruiting legendary football star Walter Payton, an All American at JSU who rushed for 65 touchdowns, called one of the most prolific running backs in the history of the National Football League.
Gorden said that when he arrived at Payton’s house, coaches were already there from the major collegiate football powers, such as Ohio State, Michigan State, others. They were “all in the room,” Gorden said.
He knew that he had little chance to woo Payton from the money and fame that the others were saying he could attain by playing at their schools. So, he took aside Payton’s mother, Alyne Payton, and asked if he could pray for her and her boy to make the right decision.
He had them hold hands and gave an earnest prayer that they would make the right choice in this most import decision of the young man’s career. And, then, after he said Amen, Gorden told her, he didn’t know what the others could do, but “I’m going to make this young man a Christian.”
With that, Gorden said, Mrs. Payton told the other coaches they could all go home, Payton was going to Jackson State!
Gorden credited his success both on and off the field to “teaching, studying, reading books.” Coaches in former times, he said, taught classes as well as coached football, and he said that a focus on learning allows a broader, more creative approach to life, and football. He urged students to “read books.”
Black people, he said, in times past, were discouraged from reading books and learning, as that is a clear path for achievement and success. He urged students to put aside other pursuits since “the time now is to read.”
Under Gorden’s educated eye, the JSU Tigers won nine Southwest Athletic Conference championships, the school’s second Black College crown winning the Orange Blossom Classic, and won a conference record 28 consecutive games 1985-88.
Prior to Gorden’s remarks, the achievements of JSU football prior to Gorden’s tenure were recounted by Sam Jefferson, a former Tiger football star and JSU and SWAC Hall of Fame Sports Information director.
Jefferson regaled the audience with stories about football greats in JSU’s history, going back to 1911, and through the 1960s.
He also noted JSU football players that some might not associate with sports, such as Rod Paige, who was U.S. secretary of education under George W. Bush, Alvin Chambliss, who was a leading attorney in the historic Jake Ayers college desegregation case that won a large settlement for historically black colleges and universities in Mississippi, and Dr. John Peoples, former longtime JSU president.
Dr. Hilliard Lackey gave the history of the band. He started with first music director, Frederick D. Hall, for whom the Music Building is named, in 1921. Naming each band director, his tenure, and accomplishments, Lackey pointed to William “Prof” Davis who served from 1948 to 1971 as the one who “started the real Jackson State band” and was “founder of the JSU sound.”
He outlined the tenures of Harold J. Haughton Sr. 1971-84, who started the Prancing J-Settes, Dowell Taylor (1984-1992 and 2012 to present), Dr. Lewis Liddell (1992-2009 and 2011-12), Dr. Renardo Murray (2009-11).
Following Lackey’s talk, Mea Ashley, Alumni program specialist, recalled her time as a J-Sette and named leading figures and prominent features — such as the J-Sette “strut,” and “salt and pepper” (the type of prance step for which the J-Settes are famous).
The J-Settes were started by Shirley Middleton 1970 and since its founding, others have emulated their style, called J-Setting, including such star performers as Beyonce’.
Dr. Steven Smith, former Tiger football star, and director of alumni and constituency relations, was the moderator. In introducing the panel, he recounted that 30 years ago when he was a JSU student, he often tuned out “people who I thought were old and not relevant.” But that students should pay attention, that those who had stories to tell that day will help them understand who they are and where they came from and what was important to them as members of the JSU family. These memories, he said, “will matter.”
“Life is so fleeting, and before you know it, life will have passed you by,” Smith said.
Dr. Marie O’Banner Jackson, associate dean of undergraduate studies and chair of the Founders Week/Day Committee, reminded students that The Founders’ Day Convocation will be at 10 a.m. Thursday, October 23, at the H.P. Jacobs Administration Tower Lawn and Quad on the JSU campus at 1400 John R. Lynch St.
Keynote speaker this year is Hank Thomas, a civil rights veteran and Freedom Rider in 1961, she noted.
She urged all students to attend.