Jimmy Jackson was a three-time NCAA and Big Eight Conference champion for Oklahoma State University. He passed away in 2008 at the age of 51, suffering from diabetes and congestive heart failure. Jimmy and Lee Kemp, a Distinguished Member inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1990, became the first African-American wrestlers to win three NCAA championships, both in 1978.  

Listed at 6-foot-6 and 350 pounds, Jimmy had a career record of 88-9-2 with 44 falls, including a perfect 29-0 with 11 falls as a senior. He defeated Greg Gibson of Oregon, a Distinguished Member inducted in 2007, in the 1976 NCAA tournament finals, 5-3. Gibson went on the become the only American to win world medals in three styles of wrestling: Freestyle, Greco-Roman and Sambo.  

He also defeated Jeff Blatnick, a Distinguished Member inducted in 1999, in the second round of the 1978 NCAA tournament, 11-4, and registered a pin in 1:12 in the finals. Blatnick won an Olympic gold medal in Greco-Roman in 1984. Also competing in the unlimited division at the 1978 tournament was fifth-place finisher John Bowlsby, brother of Bob Bowlsby, this year’s Outstanding American honoree. 

Jimmy helped Oklahoma State go 61-5 in duals during his career and was inducted into the Oklahoma State University Athletics Hall of Honor in 2007. Jackson competed in the 1976 Olympics as a 19-year-old college sophomore, winning his opening match by technical fall over Harry Geris of Canada, also an Oklahoma State wrestler, before losing to gold medalist Soslan Andiyev of the Soviet Union and silver medalist József Balla of Hungary.  

Jackson defeated Greg Wojciechowski to qualify for the 1976 team and was an alternate to Wojciechowski for the 1980 team that did not compete because of the United States boycott. Jackson was a three-time World Cup champion and won a gold medal at the Pan American Championships in 1987. He was the 1974 Michigan Class A state champion for Ottawa Hills High School in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  

For his stellar collegiate and international wrestling careers, Jimmy Jackson is posthumously inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame as a 2023 Distinguished Member.