Jackson inducted into Georgia Aquatic Hall of Fame
Sep. 20—MOULTRIE — Longtime acclaimed swimming coach and Moultrie native Tommie Lee Jackson Jr. was inducted recently into the the Georgia Aquatic Hall of Fame.
The Hall of Fame's 10th class also included the outstanding former Moss Farms and University of Georgia diver Jud Campbell.
At age 40, Jackson began a coaching career as a swimming coach that includes producing champions at the senior level, Olympic level, Paralympic level and masters level.
The William Bryant High, Albany State and Georgia State graduate also has been honored for being a pioneer in diversity and inclusion at all levels of competitive swimming.
Among the swimmers he has coached is Curtis Lovejoy, considered the most outstanding Paralympian in American history.
The five-time USA Paralympian champion broke 12 world records, five Pan Am records and 14 American records.
Jackson coached Lovejoy for 36 years.
Lovejoy, who passed away in 2021, was inducted into the Georgia Aquatic Hall of Fame in 2013.
In 2002, Jackson was named an "Icon of Paralympics" by USA Swimming.
Jackson also coached Olympic Trials qualifiers Sabir Muhammad, Muhajid El Amin, Derek Cox and Myles Simon.
In 2016, Jackson was named the head Olympic coach for Haiti when his swimmer Naomi Grand-Pierre qualified for the Rio Olympics in the 50-meter breaststroke and 50-meter freestyle.
Jackson also coached Marianne Countryman, one of the top American masters swimmers, from 2012-2023.
During that time, she earned 15 top-10 world rankings and 83 top-10 national rankings, including nine No. 1 rankings.
Heavily involved in diversity and inclusion in swimming, Jackson has been the chairman of the Georgia Local Swimming Committees' Diversity Committee since it was formed.
He has served, or is still serving, on the USA Outreach Committees and Camps, USA Swimming National Committee for Diversity and Inclusion and the Diversity and Inclusion Committee for the Southern Zone.
In 2016, he was the first coach of color to receive the USA Swimming Diversity and Inclusion Award and four years later was presented the Diversity in Aquatics Jim Ellis Award.
In 2016, he was honored at the 30th annual Black History Invitational Swim Meet held in Washington, D.C., for working to increase diversity in swimming and enabling swimmers to grow through effective training.
Jackson lettered in football and basketball at William Bryant High, where he also learned to be a swimming instructor.
He then served three years in the U.S. Army, including one year in combat in Viet Nam.
After serving in the Army, he attended Albany State from 1972-1976, lettering as a diver and a swimmer and graduating cum laude with a bachelor of science degree.
While at Albany State, he began a long career with the Red Cross as an instructor certified to teach water safety instruction and lifeguard training.
From 1976-1978, Jackson attended Georgia State in Atlanta and earned a master's degree in education with a concentration in physical education.
He also taught elementary school in Adel and in 1978, was employed at Fort Valley State as a health and physical education instructor, was the track and field and weight training coach and directed the intramural program.
In 1982, he returned to Georgia State to study exercise science and then went back to Fort Valley, where he worked until 1985.
In Atlanta, he taught at Heath Slater Elementary School before transferring to Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School where he taught physical education and swimming until 2005.
In 1986, he was named the assistant coach and in 1989 became the head coach of the Atlanta Dolphins Swim Team, where he has produced a number of team and individual champions at all levels of competition.
Jackson is the son of the late Tommy and Odessa Jackson.
He is married to Delores H. Jackson and they have five children. He has two sisters, Elaine Daniels and Ophelia Lyles, both of Moultrie.
