John Jackson (born January 4, 1965) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

offensive tackle in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

. Best known for his time as a member of the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...

, Jackson was drafted out of

Eastern Kentucky University Eastern Kentucky University (Eastern or EKU) is a public university in Richmond, Kentucky. As a regional comprehensive institution, EKU also maintains branch campuses in Corbin, Hazard, Lancaster, and Manchester and offers over 40 online un ...

. While at EKU, Jackson was a three-year starter and a two-time All-OVC selection under head coach Roy Kidd. While he was at EKU, the Colonels won three OVC titles and he blocked for two of the top five career rushers in EKU history, Elroy Harris and James Crawford. Jackson spent 14 seasons in the NFL with the Steelers (1988–1997), the

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...

(1998–1999), and the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The c ...

(2000–2001). He started in

Super Bowl XXX Super Bowl XXX was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Dallas Cowboys and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Pittsburgh Steelers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion ...

for the Steelers when they went up against the Dallas Cowboys. John Jackson was inducted into the Kentucky Pro Football Hall of Fame in June 2009. Jackson was a dominating force at EKU and the talented offensive tackle had a good relationship with the school’s program after he was drafted. While in the NFL, Jackson contributed to the EKU’s athletic facilities and helped to improve the Moberly and Presnell Buildings on campus. He was drafted into the NFL as a student. Shortly before being drafted, he met and married Joan Taylor of Cincinnati and the couple had two sons: Joshua (Josh) and Jordan. Josh, a former EKU student like his father, is a competitive long-drive golfer who ranks on the World Long Drive Tour. Jordan is a musical artist known as “Faedaway”. Joan, now Joan Sloan, and John divorced after 20 years of marriage. Upon retirement from the league, Jackson said: "I'm done. You can stick a fork in me." Jackson had played in 203 games between the Steelers, Chargers and Bengals. "I'm not trying to come back, unless we go play golf somewhere. That's about the only thing I'll play."

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