Honor W. Jackson (born November 21, 1948) is a former American football

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

in the National Football League for the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

and

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

. He was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in the ninth round of the

1971 NFL Draft The 1971 National Football League draft was held January 28–29, 1971, at the Belmont Plaza Hotel in New York City, New York. The Boston Patriots, who did not officially change their name to New England Patriots until after the draft, used th ...

. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

at the

University of the Pacific University of the Pacific may refer to: *University of the Pacific (Colombia) *University of the Pacific (Ecuador) *University of the Pacific (Peru) * University of the Pacific (United States) *University of Asia Pacific, Bangladesh * University of ...

Early years

Jackson attended Tamalpais High School where he played defensive end. Although he received interest from division I schools, because of grades, he opted to go to College of Marin where he was converted to wide receiver. In 1969, he transferred to the

, lettering in

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

and

track Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...

. As a senior, he registered 55 receptions for 931 yards, 5 touchdowns, ranked 12th in the nation in receiving average (16.9 yards) and earned All-PCAA honors. He finished his college career with 74 receptions for 1,236 yards and 8 touchdowns. In 2005, he was inducted into the Pacific Athletics Hall of Fame.

Professional career

Dallas Cowboys

Jackson was selected by the Dallas Cowboys in the ninth round (233th overall) of the

, who had a strong team that was coming off a Super Bowl V appearance and would eventually win

Super Bowl VI Super Bowl VI was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Dallas Cowboys and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Miami Dolphins to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the ...

. It was decided to switch Jackson to

, in order for him to have a better chance to make the roster, even though he had never played the position before. During the 1971 offseason, because Duane Thomas was going through a contract dispute (he requested that his 3-year contract be rewritten) and refused to report to training camp, the Cowboys decided to trade him to the

. Although Jackson was waived on July 26, he was included as part of the transaction alongside Halvor Hagen, in exchange for

Carl Garrett Carl L. Garrett (August 31, 1947 – August 24, 2020) was an American football running back who began his professional career with the American Football League's Boston Patriots. Carl Garrett caught 29 passes for 267 yards and two touchdowns ...

and the Patriots number one draft choice in the

1972 NFL Draft The 1972 NFL draft was held February 1–2, 1972, at the Essex House in New York City, New York. With the first overall pick of the draft, the Buffalo Bills selected defensive end Walt Patulski. Player selections Round one Round two ...

. Within a week, because of problems with the Patriots organization and head coach John Mazur, in an unprecedented move, the NFL commissioner voided part of the trade, sending Thomas and Garrett back to their original teams. The Patriots kept Hagen and Jackson, in exchange for a second and third round draft choices in the

, which the Cowboys eventually used to select Robert Newhouse and Mike Keller.

New England Patriots

Jackson was tried first at wide receiver, before being moved to safety after the Patriots claimed

Randy Vataha Randel Edward Vataha, (born December 4, 1948) is a former American football player, a wide receiver for seven seasons in the National Football League (NFL), the first six with the New England Patriots. Early years Born in Santa Monica, California ...

off waivers, who was a college teammate of starting quarterback Jim Plunkett. He ended up starting at

strong safety Safety is a position in gridiron football on the defense. The safeties are defensive backs who line up ten to fifteen yards from the line of scrimmage. There are two variations of the position: the free safety and the strong safety. Their dut ...

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

, leading the team in pass interceptions with four. His best performance came against the Miami Dolphins on December 3, when he registered two interceptions and knocked Mercury Morris out of game during the Dolphins' perfect season. The next year, he played in nine games mostly as a reserve, before being cut on November 10.

New York Giants

Jackson signed as a free agent with the

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, U.S. ...

. He was released on September 12,

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

, before being brought back to the team. That same year he was placed on the injured reserve list with a nerve injury in his right leg. He could never recover physically and decided to retire from professional football at the age of 27.

Personal life

He worked as a manager for Longs Drugs and also became president of the Northern California chapter of the NFL Alumni Association.

References

External links

Dave Albee: 1971 pick Honor Jackson knows draft day is never easyHonor Jackson leads by exampleHonor's advice: Study
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Honor Living people 1948 births People from Mill Valley, California Players of American football from California Sportspeople from the San Francisco Bay Area American football defensive backs American football wide receivers African-American players of American football Tamalpais High School alumni Marin Mariners football players Pacific Tigers football players New England Patriots players New York Giants players 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople