After 30 years, this former Texas A&M defensive back will finally earn his degree

On Friday morning, a former Texas A&M Aggies defensive back will walk across the graduation stage to receive his diploma, something that he first started to work toward over 30 years ago. Lance Jackson first stepped on TAMU’s campus in 1983, when he began his football career with the Aggies as a defensive back.

According to GigEm247, Jackson played for Texas A&M from 1983-85, ending his career during the Aggies’ Southwest Conference Championship season. Texas A&M capped off that season with a win over Bo Jackson’s Auburn Tigers in the Cotton Bowl. Lance says his playing career can easily be compared to getting his education.

“I can see a lot of similarities between my playing days and my education,” Jackson explained. “We struggled early in the 1980s but with the final two games of the 1984 season we knew we were coming together. That 1985 season was special with Coach (Jackie) Sherrill, Coach (R.C.) Slocum and Coach Curley Hallman, my defensive backs coach.

“In school, I was working on a kinesiology degree and there was a mix up with paper work and some paper had me withdrawn from school,” Jackson said. “I was tired of school at that time. Then in the spring of 1986, Miss Lillian Jean Clark Robinson hired me to work at the Lincoln Center in College Station.”

He’s been at the Lincoln Recreation Center for the past 19 years, working as the supervisor. Jackson admits that he was hesitant to get back in the classroom, being significantly older than his other students.

“I thought, ‘What am I doing with these young people?’ and thought about turning around and leaving,” Jackson said via 247Sports. “But the students, professors such as Dr. (John) Crompton and other staff members embraced me. I worked on group projects and had study groups help me make it through, even though I was a little older than the normal student.”

It’s been a long journey for the former Texas A&M defensive back, but on Friday morning, he’ll finally earn his bachelor’s degree in recreation, park and tourism sciences from the university. Congrats to Lance for achieving quite the accomplishment.