Plum’s Jackson overcomes lack of right hand to inspire on football field

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, October 13, 2018 | 8:42 PM

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Jason Jackson thought his football playing days were over until he tuned in to the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl on New Year’s Day. Then he saw No. 18 for Central Florida, linebacker Shaquem Griffin, turn into a one-man wrecking crew, earning defensive MVP honors with a dozen tackles, including 3 ¹ ⁄ ₂ tackles for a loss and 1 ¹ ⁄ ₂ sacks, as the Knights finished an undefeated record with a 34-27 win over favored Auburn.

“I just wanted to commit to track all the way,” said Jackson, a junior at Plum. “But then when I saw him, I was like, ‘I’m going to go back out there and play.’ ”

Griffin’s story — his left hand was amputated as a child — inspires similar thoughts in many players.

But Jackson’s story is uncommon because of what he shares with Griffin: They both play with one hand. Jackson, 16, was born with a right arm that ends just below his elbow.

“(People are) surprised I play football, and how I play it with one hand,” Jackson said. “They’re amazed at how I’m doing it.”

‘He adapted by himself’

A routine checkup turned into something more for Jason and Charmelle Jackson about midway through Charmelle’s pregnancy: An ultrasound revealed strands of the amniotic sac had wrapped around their unborn child’s right arm, prohibiting its growth.

The rare condition is known as amniotic band syndrome and can cause a variety of birth defects, including amputations or club feet, and also carries the risk of miscarriage. In Griffin’s case, fingers on his left hand didn’t fully develop, causing extreme pain. His hand was amputated at age 4.

“It caught us all off guard, and then we just took it from there,” said the elder Jason Jackson, 37, of finding out about the fetus’ condition. “The one nurse, we went to some type of genetic testing, and they were talking about abortion, and we were like, ‘No, that’s not an option.’ We just decided to love the baby for who he is. At first, I was blaming God. I was a young man, and just didn’t know how to take it. My mom was a big person that helped me deal with it, and so was Charmelle.”

When their baby boy finally came, he was missing a portion of his right forearm and his right hand, but he had no long-term health issues. And from there, he lived a normal childhood.

“It’s like, you don’t miss what you don’t get,” the older Jason Jackson said. “It’s not Jason’s handicap; it’s our handicap. Jason, he just naturally adapted. Even though some things might have been harder, for the most part, he adapted by himself.”

Jackson wore a prosthetic limb until he was in elementary school before deciding to ditch it, for the most part. He uses one now just when lifting weights.

Learning to write and learning to tie his shoe caused the biggest challenges, but he learned how to do both.

“It was hard at first,” he said. “I had to get used to it. It was hard, but I had to fit into it.”

Although, he admits: “I still have trouble tying my shoe, but it just happens.”

Jackson’s parents said he never suffered from anxiety or self-consciousness and never let on if other kids were giving him trouble.

“It was always more of a concern for me, wondering if kids are being mean to you, are you just telling me no because you don’t want me to be upset?” said Charmelle Jackson, 37. “But he’s always made friends easily. He’s always had a lot of friends, and he’s never seemed to have any trouble making friends or having any issues like that. And I think if he does, his personality just allows him to know that I’m doing good the way I am, (and) I’m not worried about what other people think.”

Now Jackson is a typical 16-year-old: one who complains about household chores, whose little sister has “him wrapped around her finger,” according to his dad, and who is extremely competitive, especially when it comes to video games.

The soft-spoken teenager said his competitiveness came later in life, but his mother jumped in quickly to correct him.

“Even in preschool, you always wanted to be first,” she said.

‘It’s amazing what he can do’

Jackson’s first foray into sports came at 5 years old with T-ball. He graduated to track and football by the time he turned 8.

Originally a running back, Jason became a wide receiver and defensive back.

“I started to learn how to catch: just with my chest at first, but then I got better as the years went by,” he said.

His skills helped him win the courage award at Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger’s youth camp twice: He has the autographed plaque and jersey he received tucked away safely in his home, and Charmelle Jackson keeps the link to a television story about the award saved on her phone.

Jackson moved from Penn Hills to Plum before this school year with his parents and four younger siblings: brother Isaiah, 12; brother Elijah, 10; and brother Ezra and sister Gabrielle, both 8.

When he came to a Plum football practice for the first time, it took the team by surprise because it didn’t know much about him or his condition. But, as coach Matt Morgan said, they quickly found out “he can really play.”

A speedster who runs sprints in track and field and excels at deep routes in football, Jackson opened eyes with his athletic ability, whether it was a flashy dunk in a game of basketball in the swimming pool or a kickoff return in football where he caught the ball with his left hand, switched it to his right hand so he could deliver a punishing stiff arm and then moved it back.

“It’s amazing what he can do with that,” sophomore WR/DB Max Matolcsy said. “You’d think it would restrict him, but he can do whatever he wants to. He’s that good of an athlete.”

That’s a common response, Jackson said, and he said he enjoys surprising viewers.

Jackson was enjoying a breakout performance in a junior varsity game against Connellsville in mid-September — two interceptions, more than 100 yards receiving — until he took a hard hit while carrying the ball on a reverse. The contact left him with a concussion, and he hasn’t appeared on the field since.

The injury came at an unfortunate time as Morgan said he hoped to see Jackson become a regular on the varsity gridiron before the end of the season. The junior got his first taste of varsity action in a game against Gateway, coming away with dreams of playing more next season.

“It’s different under the lights, with the band playing, fans everywhere,” he said. “It was nice. It matched (what I imagined) perfectly.”

‘It’s an inspiration for me’

After seeing Griffin play for the first time in January, Jackson followed the linebacker’s next steps intently: an incredible performance at the NFL Combine, where Griffin set a record for linebackers by running the 40-yard dash in 4.38 seconds and did 20 repetitions of 225 pounds while using a prosthetic left arm; getting drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in the fifth round; and making his first NFL start against the Denver Broncos in September.

He hasn’t reached out to Griffin yet, but he wants to at some point.

“It’s nice knowing that he went through the same thing as me, and where he’s at now, I’m hoping I can get there, too,” said Jackson, who wants to play football and run track at — you guessed it — Central Florida.

In some ways, Jackson already is getting where Griffin is.

Morgan said he considers Jackson an inspiration any of his players can follow.

“Ever since he got here, everybody’s like, we’ve just got to keep playing,” Matolcsy said. “If we get a little injury or something, you see him, he’s had this thing his whole life and he still plays through it. It’s an inspiration for us to keep going no matter what happens.”

Jackson said he never really considered that he might inspire others, but “it’s nice knowing that.” The junior has high hopes for track season in the spring and football next fall.

After that, who knows? But he plans to keep going.

“It’s an inspiration for me, just seeing how he overcomes things and he doesn’t give up,” Charmelle Jackson said. “He knows what he can do, and he does it. There’s no reason for us to say we can’t do anything. To see everything he’s overcome or doesn’t feel is an obstacle, it’s just, I have to learn how to do this differently, but I’m not giving up.”

Doug Gulasy is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Doug at dgulasy@tribweb.com or via Twitter @dgulasy_Trib.

Tags: Plum