Hall of Fame
A South Bend, Indiana native, J. Marcus Jackson received his baccalaureate degree from Huron University in South Dakota and his master's degree from Indiana University. His first teaching position was at Culver Military Academy in Indiana. He moved to South Bend Central High School as head basketball coach compiling a four-year record of 59-10 before moving to Baltimore Community College in Maryland as assistant basketball coach where the team was 34-4. In the fall of 1971 Athletic Director Barron Bremner appointed the 30-year-old Jackson as head coach of basketball, golf, and cross country. While Jackson's teams performed well in cross country and golf, it was his basketball teams that generated the fire and excitement that galvanized the Coe community. The exciting offense and tenacious defense exhibited by Jackson's team took Cedar Rapids and Eastern Iowa by storm. Faculty, students, and members of the Cedar Rapids community packed the gym so full that some games had to be relayed by closed-circuit television to overflow spectators assembled on the indoor track of Eby Field House. Jackson's teams went 14-8, then 24-1, and 18-5. Jackson, the first head black college coach in Iowa, instilled discipline, pride, and an unrelenting desire for success in his athletes and they responded by winning consistently and against the first-rate competition. In Jackson's second year the Kohawks shocked the basketball community by compiling a 22-0 record in the regular season and 24-1 overall as they won the Midwest Conference title and the College Division II Regional Tournament at Southwest Missouri, defeating Southern Colorado State and South Dakota State. At the NCAA College Division II Final Four they lost to Assumption College of Massachusetts, finishing the season 24-1. En route to this memorable season they averaged 91 points per game, scoring over 100 points in eight games and 113 in one game. This 24-game run gave Coe a 29-game winning streak, the longest in the NCAA. Jackson's team in 1973-74 continued the torrid pace with an 18-5 record, another NCAA bid and a 92-point scoring average. Like a blazing meteor streaking over the lowa sky, Jackson's teams in his three years at Coe accumulated a 66-14 record, dozens of team and individual records and left an indelible imprint on those who observed their dynamic and electrifying performances. Jackson moved to Dartmouth College and to Wright State University, turning both programs around dramatically, winning the Kodak Classic with a win over Georgetown and again playing in the NCAA. He then entered private business where he exhibited the same record of success. A final claim to Coe College fame was that he never lost to Cornell; not in basketball, not in cross country, not in golf! To the outstanding coaching and business records accomplished by J. Marcus Jackson, we can proudly add membership in the Coe College Athletic Hall of Fame.
