“He was more of a life coach”: In Loving Memory of Walls Baseball Coach James Jackson

James Jackson never worked in the school building, but when he passed away on May 20, Walls lost an incredibly impactful member of its community. Jackson, or “Coach Jay” as his players called him, served as the Walls baseball assistant coach for a decade. Along with coaching the team to over a hundred wins, Coach Jay was a caring man who touched the lives of the players he coached. 

Most Walls baseball players’ first practice freshman year began with meeting Coach Jay. He would be sure to first bump each new player and introduce himself as they walked on to Maury Wills Field. Coach Jay would usually follow that introduction with a quick joke, which would make some freshmen nervous for their first practice. However, they quickly would learn that jokes and light-hearted fun were all part of the Coach Jay experience. 

Coach Jay didn’t have to be a baseball coach. Jackson had a full-time job in upper management at DC Water and played basketball, not baseball growing up. But when Jackson’s son - “Jay Jr.”, who went on to play and coach at the University of Valley Forge and now often helps coach the Penguins - Coach Jay became drawn to baseball. The DC native saw an opportunity to give back to the city and took it. 

Despite usually coming to practice or games straight from his job at DC Water, Jackson was always full of energy on the baseball field. Peter Herrick (‘22) said, “In a lot of ways, Coach J was the glue that held our team together, day-in and day-out. J’s aura provided the team with ice-breaking levity as he welcomed and got to know each player (he had running jokes with almost everyone).” Jackson made sure to keep his players accountable, though. Midway through a round of batting practice, Coach Jay would often warn the hitter to “get ready for the lightning,” before firing a particularly fast pitch, keeping players on their toes. “When the team needed it,” added Herrick, “J was the agitator, not afraid to point out the elephant in the room, make things uncomfortable, and push you.” 

“His tough love mentality was done in a way that really showed us he simply wanted what’s best for us,” said Walls baseball player Phillip Wheeler (‘25), “I’m forever grateful for what he’s taught me on and off the field.” Jackson was usually quick to follow his tough love by lightning up the team with his signature comedy.

If you talk to any Walls baseball player past or present, they’ll have a handful of great Coach Jay stories to share with you. Jackson, who often was tasked with filling the downtime between warmups and the first pitch of games, gave memorable, humorous speeches that would leave his players both motivated and doubled over with laughter. Coach Jay’s speeches usually featured several of his signature phrases, such as, “Let’s be the dog not the fire hydrant” or, “I’m the cutest one out here.” “Coach Jay would also come up with nicknames for players that often would stick well after their time at Walls, such as “Big Lazy,” “Hair Flip,” and “Brick.”

Coach Jay wasn’t just focused on teaching students to be good players, he also pushed his players to be good young men. “On this team we don’t have captains, we have leaders,” Jackson would say frequently. 

Eliav Brooks-Rubin (‘23) was one of those leaders Jackson trained, saying, “Coach J saw my potential as not just a player but as a leader and worked every day to draw it out in his endearing curmudgeonly way.” Brooks-Rubin added, “He was a baseball coach but to me he was more of a life coach and someone who saw the long game of his players’ lives.” Jack Ewart (‘15), who was coached by Jackson his senior year and has coached alongside Jackson the last few years, echoed that sentiment, saying, “No matter who you were, how good you were, or what you knew about baseball Coach Jackson wanted you to be successful both on the field and in life and he made sure everyone was set up with the lessons they needed to be great adults.

Despite being diagnosed with terminal cancer, Coach Jay continued coaching for over a year and a half. Even with such difficult circumstances, Jackson never complained and kept showing up to games and practices with his same old enthusiasm. Jackson, who always preached effort and confidence to his players, amazingly lived many months longer than doctors expected. Coach Jay’s commitment, care, and larger-than-life personality will be dearly missed by the Walls baseball community and all who knew him.