Cha Ching! - Rickey Jackson and the Saints finally enter the Pro Football Hall of Fame
by David "Satch" Kelly on Aug 7, 2010 6:00 AM CDT
in CSC All-Time New Orleans Saints Team
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via www.bay-area-sports-blog.com
What a year it's been! We finally made it to a Super Bowl and then shocked the world by actually winning it in dramatic fashion. As if that wasn't enough, today we also get to see one of the greatest ever to wear the black and gold inducted into the Hall of Fame. Tonight, Rickey Jackson will have his bronze bust immortalized in Canton, Ohio along with Jerry Rice, Emmit Smith, Russ Grimm, Dick LeBeau, Floyd Little, and John Randle. This is a list of true NFL greats, but for us Saints fans, the day belongs to Mr. Jackson. He becomes the first long-time Saint to receive this honor. Let's start this little tribute with some video:
Along with Sam Mills, Pat Swilling, and Vaughan Johnson, Rickey was part of one of the most formidable defensive units in league history - the Dome Patrol. I never had the opportunity to see these guys play in person, but I watched them many times on the TV and remember them being the heart and soul of the Jim Mora-era Saints. From 1986-1992, these guys rained torment and pain on any opposing offense that dared enter the Superdome.
Rickey was a key component in this quartet of bad-asses. Here's his HOF bio:
One of the key players that fueled the New Orleans Saints transition from perennial losers into contenders in the late 1980s was linebacker Rickey Jackson. The club drafted Jackson out of Pittsburgh in the second round of the 1981 NFL Draft.
He made an immediate impact as a rookie when he led the team with a franchise rookie record eight sacks and was also the Saints’ leading tackler. He had another productive year during the strike-shortened 1982 season.In 1983 he established himself as an elite pass rusher in the NFL when he recorded 12 sacks. That year marked the first of six double-digit sack totals in his career. It also earned Jackson a trip to the Pro Bowl for the first time. In all, he was named to the Pro Bowl six times including his final year in New Orleans in 1993.
He was named first-team All-Pro in 1986, 1987, 1992, and 1993. As Jackson raised his play to a new level, the team also began enjoying a new string of success. The Saints registered its first winning season and the first playoff appearance in franchise history after they finished 12-3 in 1987. Leading the way was Jackson who recorded 9.5 sacks, 74 tackles, three forces fumbles, and two interceptions. More winning followed when the Saints captured their first-ever division title in 1991. Jackson helped the cause with 11.5 sacks, 59 tackles, three forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries, and three passes defensed. New Orleans never finished below .500 during Jackson’s final seven years with the team.
After 13 seasons with the Saints, Jackson finished his NFL career with two final seasons with the San Francisco 49ers who converted him to defensive end and turned him into a pass rush specialist. In his first year in the Bay area, Jackson enjoyed a championship run with his new team capped by a victory over the San Diego Chargers in Super Bowl XXIX. He started at right defensive end for the 49ers in that game and chipped in with two tackles.
Jackson retired after the 1995 season with 128 career sacks that does not include his rookie total since the sack did not become an official statistic until 1982. He also intercepted eight passes during his 227-game NFL career.
I now turn this over to writers better than myself. If you haven't seen them yet, I strongly recommend you read Ken Trahan's four-part series on our man of the hour. They're a very informative look into the life of Rickey Jackson.
Rickey Jackson to Canton, Part One: The Formative Years
Rickey Jackson to Canton, Part Two: North to Pitt
Rickey Jackson to Canton, Part Three: Making them black & blue in Black & Gold
Rickey Jackson to Canton, Part Four: Life, Peace & Faith After Football
Here's more links to some of the many other tribute posts of the last few days:
ABC26 Video: Rickey Jackson in Canton ready for big day
Rickey Jackson 'heart and soul of Saints' - NFC South Blog - ESPN
For Saints, Jackson, wait for HOF finally over
Here's where you guys come in. I now open my feeble attempt at a tribute post up to you. For the many other CSC members who remember those days more clearly than I do (I was a teenager focused mostly on girls, girls, girls at the time), please share your thoughts and memories of no. 57 either below in the comment section or as a new Fanpost. It's not every day we see a Saint inducted into the Hall of Fame, so let's congratulate Rickey on this honor and thank him for the many years he played so well for us.
The HOF Induction Ceremony will be broadcast tonight starting at 6:00 CST on NFL Network.
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I'm old enough to remember Rickey Jackson,
and had the pleasure to meet him at an autograph signing during his prime. He was a nice guy and took some time to speak to my young son. I remember taking him to a game in the dome during the season they went 12-3. The Saints actually lost, and I didn’t go to another game for quite some time because I was afraid that I was a jinx!
I love this part about Rickey in the recent AP article:
Even while he was with the 49ers, Jackson maintained his affection for New Orleans. In his first game back in the Louisiana Superdome as a visiting player, he knelt at midfield and kissed the black-and-gold fleur-de-lis.
"I came and kissed it, man, because I bleed black-and-gold," said Jackson
The man was a beast as a player. I remember when he had the car crash, and how scared everyone was for him. Guess we didn’t need to worry because he was back in just a couple of weeks and didn’t lose a step!
Congrats City Champ! #57 first in the hearts of all Saints fans!
"It's about time that something good like this happened." - Drew Brees
Nice job, Satch!
Given the Tenacious D reference earlier this week, I cannot help but add this bit of rock and roll humor to your tribute…
Jack Black and Kyle Gass also know how to do a TRIBUTE
Caution – this link contains a jump to a video which may contain questionable content and lyrics…
Sean Payton and the players need to focus on the upcoming season and defending the title but I don’t.
There isn’t really a lot of video on Rickey Jackson himself; but there is some good footage of the Dome Patrol, and the ‘87 Saints in general. If you missed Rickey’s pre-game interview before the Divisional playoff game against the Cardinals, here ’tis:
Here is a long video of Dome Patrol highlights:
Both WWL and WDSU produced shows about the ‘87 season, “That Heavenly Season” and “A Long Time Coming.” First, part 1 of WWL’s:
And part 1 of WDSU’s:
And finally, here’s the official announcement that the heart and soul of both the Dome Patrol and the entire ’87 Saints, Randy Jackson, was bound for Canton:
You can hardly blame them. After all, it’s really all about Emmitt and Jerry.
It was worth the wait.
Um...
The embed codes seem not to have worked. Once again, I want to express my profound gratitude to YouTube and SBNation for making this possible.
Here’s the links:
As an aside: don’t ever try to enclose a link in quotes, even if that’s grammatically necessary, because then the link won’t work. My thanks again to the ace programmers at SBNation.
It was worth the wait.
Oh man. I didn't know about that "Randy Jackson" crap.
Come on, man! What a f*** up. Oh well, he’s in and most of the world knew it was “Rickey.”
"As soon as Tony (Dungy) said we had no chance, I knew we had 'em right where we wanted 'em"--Coach Sean Payton right after Super Bowl XLIV with the Lombardi Trophy firmly in hand. WHO DAT!!
by David "Satch" Kelly on Aug 7, 2010 10:48 AM CDT up reply actions
his election...
has restored my faith in the HOF. I figured that he would never get in because he never got the media attention that others did (the fact that Andre Tippett went in before him is a joke) but I think real football people finally did the right thing. I remember LT always talking about him with great respect because he recognized how great he was.
The three qualities that made him my favorite player:
- toughness – never missed a game, hell he was in an auto accident one week and played the next game.
- consistency – Saints history is littered with players who had great games here and there, or players that cashed in then fell off the map, but year in and year out Rickey was great
- Clutch – when a big play had to be made, he was the player that you could count on. Swilling had a habit of putting up gaudy stats against so-so teams but disappearing a bit against the good ones. Not Rickey, he shined in big moments and made key plays with the game on the line.
"But tonight the Superbowl belongs to the City of New Orleans" - Roger Goodell 2/7/2010
actually, BEVO, he missed two games after the accident (the only 2 he missed in 14 years) - but he was supposed to be out 4-6 weeks
Sean Payton and the players need to focus on the upcoming season and defending the title but I don’t.
by Hans Petersen on Aug 7, 2010 9:59 AM CDT up reply actions
He missed the four replacement games of 1987, as well.
"I was not on the boat in question" -Darren Sharper
Make that three replacement games. I forgot they dropped a game all together.
"I was not on the boat in question" -Darren Sharper
don't screw up my great story with facts
"But tonight the Superbowl belongs to the City of New Orleans" - Roger Goodell 2/7/2010
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