In 1970, Tony Jackson was a defensive end and co-captain of the San José State football team. He also was the spokesman for a group of Spartan teammates who boycotted the 1968 game against Brigham Young University, citing racial reasons for their protest. As a football captain and campus activist, Jackson demonstrated the qualities of a future military leader.
Today, Major General Anthony L. Jackson is among the highest ranking African-Americans in the United States Marine Corps. He's currently stationed in Stuttgart, Germany, as the director of operations and logistics, U.S. Africa Command. He turns 60 in June, which will give him 34 years as a Marine. "I will stay on active (duty) as long as the commandant of the Marine Corps needs my services," he says.
Gen. Jackson, '71 BA and '73 MA History, agreed to discuss his college days and military life in a late-March exchange of emails. We start the interview with his time as a student-athlete at San José State.
"My years at SJSU were challenging," he says. "Balancing football, academics, social life and the politics of a very active civil rights movement on campus was difficult, but not impossible. I had to mature very fast and stay focused on the end goal -- a better life, not just for me, but for everyone who wanted to take part in the American ideals."
When he left Oakland to attend San José State in the mid-1960s, there were only, by his recollection, 73 black students out of 24,000 enrollees on campus. Most of the blacks, he says, were scholarship athletes, including Tommie Smith and John Carlos, the symbols of protest at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City.
"Race was a factor in those days," Jackson says, "particularly in 1968 with the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. After the actions of our fellow students at the Olympics, we were energized to be activists also."
Jackson became president of the Black Athletes Federation on campus, which led to some black football players sitting out the '68 game against Brigham Young University because of the perceived anti-black religious views of The Church of the Latter Day Saints that governed the school. BYU had no black football players at the time. SJSU won that game, 25-21.
"Those were tough times," says Jackson. "We were criticized by some for doing too little and others for doing too much in combining race and politics with sport. I was the public face for the black athletes. At 19 years old, that was a challenge for me. In the end, it was worth it."
Jackson was a starter all four years at San José State, moving from linebacker to defensive end as a senior and co-captaining the team with quarterback Ivan Lippi. SJSU was a combined 9-31 during Jackson's career, but when the Spartans upset Oregon, 36-34, his junior year, he was named the Spartans' Player of the Game.
Jackson married Susan Steinbach, '70 Economics, whom he met at SJSU, during semester break of his senior year. They've been married 38 years and have two sons: Brian, 24, UC Irvine class of 2006, and Blaine, 23, a fifth-year senior at Sacramento State, who has completed his football eligibility as a defensive end -- just like his dad.
At SJSU, Jackson was a history major and had no inkling then that he would join the Marines -- or any other military branch, even though he spent his freshman year in the Army Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC). Tommie Smith, then an SJSU senior, was his company first sergeant.
"Every now and then, someone would say something negative to you on those days when we wore our uniforms on campus," Jackson recalls. "The anti-war feelings focused on Vietnam ran pretty hot on campus. However, coming from a military family, with a father who was both a World War II and Korean War veteran and an older brother who was a Vietnam veteran, I was supportive of our national goals and lined up with the ‘my country right or wrong' crowd regarding the war."
But he resigned from ROTC before his sophomore year to focus on academics and football. After graduating from SJSU, he took some master's-level classes, coached football at Merritt Community College in Oakland and tried the insurance field. Then on May 10, 1975, he enlisted in the Marines.
"I chose the Marine Corps," he says, looking back, "because I thought I would only serve for three years. So I wanted to be in a service that I thought would most likely be involved in something significant ... I wanted to be tested in a crisis."
"The most intense period was in Iraq in 2004," he says. "I was on the staff of the First Marine Expeditionary Force in Fallujah. As a staff member, I was not engaged in direct combat, but I faced consecutive days and nights of enemy rocket/ mortar fire. Seeing our Marines going and coming from combat each day was an experience I will never forget. Those injured were anxious to return to the fight and rejoin their comrades. They wanted to be in the contest, no matter the hazard. Those Marines will always be an inspiration for me."
At other times, Jackson experienced life-and-death situations himself. "Anytime someone is shooting in your direction, you realize just how mortal you are," he says. "I have been shot at and had some very close mortar and rocket fire. But I have been fortunate. No battle scars and no purple hearts."
As a young boy, Jackson perhaps sensed that the military was his destination. His father, Sergeant First Class Matthew Jackson, was a career Army man who came to Oakland in 1963 and retired there three years later. Matthew and wife Ruth had seven children. Their son Tony excelled in sports and studies at Oakland High School, lettering in football and wrestling and earning acceptance in the Upward Bound academic program.
Jackson initially had designs on the Air Force Academy, which wanted him to attend prep school for a year. But with his brother Donald already attending SJSU, and the Spartans offering him a full-ride football scholarship, Jackson chose to complete his college education in four years, not five.
The 6-foot-1 Jackson played defense at 205 to 215 pounds, light for a defensive end. But he was quick on his feet and took advantage of his high school wrestling moves to stop the run and to out-maneuver heavier offensive linemen to get to the quarterback. No sack statistics were kept back then, but Jackson had his share.
Jackson weighs 199 these days because he's even more committed to physical fitness. He works out every day, rarely taking a day off. By 4:45 am, he's off on a run of four to five miles. He follows that up with weightlifting and stretching, then heads for work. It's all part of being a Marine.
"Gung-ho is a Chinese term meaning ‘working together,'" he says. "Marine Raiders adopted that ethic from their experiences working with the Chinese against the Japanese prior to our entry into World War II. It is also meant to signify someone who is highly motivated to achieve. The Marine Corps boot camp or officers training program brings it to the surface, enhances it, and turns it into an ‘esprit de corps' and mission focus."
"You cannot lead," he says of Marine duty, "if you're huffing and puffing in the back of a formation when the Marines are on the move. In addition, you never know when your fitness may mean the difference between success and failure on the battlefield. Your mental acuity is tied to your physical fitness. Your life and the lives of your people depend on it. Football and the Marine Corps both require that ethos and it is part of their appeal to me."
Constantly on the move as part of his work, Jackson doesn't attend many SJSU football games. But he's seen two games since Dick Tomey became head coach in 2005. He mostly keeps track of the Spartans through newspapers and the Internet.
"Once I joined the Marine Corps, I became a world traveler," he says. "But I was really honored to attend a game last fall and be an honorary team captain with other veterans. In retirement, I promise to be a rabid fan and get to games as often as possible."
A two-star general, Jackson is one of seven African- American generals in the Marine Corps. Only one of them, Lieutenant General (three stars) Ronald Coleman, had more rank when this story went to press. Walt Gaskin (note: not SJSU's Wally Gaskins) has been nominated for his third star. However, Jackson has made it a point throughout his military career to work hard and not worry about rank. Thus, "I have exceeded my own expectations," he says.
His military travels have taken him to Hawaii, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa, Algeria and Kenya. He's had stateside duty in Virginia, Florida, Georgia, Pennsylvania, California, and at the Pentagon. He currently serves in Stuttgart as the principal advisor to the commander, U.S. Africa Command, who oversees U.S. military operations and its support on the continent of Africa and its associated island nations.
Speaking of the U.S. military in general, Jackson says that "we have the best soldiers, sailors, airmen and coast guardsmen in the world. They have no equals and we each add to our national defense when called upon. Marines focus on the rifleman. The focus of all Marines is to do whatever they do the best they can to ensure that the individual rifleman is successful on the battlefield.
"Keep in mind that the usual rifleman is 18 to 20 years old and he is the one who confronts each challenge up close and personal. So no matter the rank or specialty, whether a general or whatever, all Marines serve that 18- to 20-year-old who does this nation's bidding. And each Marine is trained to take his place should he fall." Semper fi.
"Semper fidelis means never forgetting those who have earned the title ‘Marine' and all that that stands for in American history," Jackson notes. "It means passing on the traditions and battle prowess of previous generations of Marines to the next generation of Marines. It means serving others before serving self; service before self. Always displaying honor, courage and commitment."
After this Marine, Major Gen. Anthony L. Jackson, has finished serving his family, his country and his alma mater with pride, he knows exactly how he will salute Father Time when "Taps" is played. "In my casket," he says, "I will be in a dress blue uniform, so there will be no mistaking what I am when I get to my next destination."
-- Dave Newhouse, '64
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