My great-grandmother, Marian Pauline Drake, was born on Oct. 2, 1917, in Whitesburg, Tennessee. Affectionately called “Mamere,” she grew up in Knoxville with her mom, uncle, and four siblings. She graduated early from Austin-East High School and attended Knoxville College.
Mamere traveled between Knoxville and Cincinnati all her life. She raised her two kids in Ohio before coming back to Tennessee again. My mom distinctly remembers visiting her at a house on 225 Michael Street. Mamere moved back to Cincinnati for good in 2001, two years before I was born.
I don’t know if she would’ve guessed that her great-grandson would come back to her hometown to cover high school sports for the Knoxville News Sentinel. I wish I could’ve seen her reaction.
Hi. I’m Wynton Jackson. I’m the new writer for PrepXtra, covering high school sports in the Knoxville area.
I knew I wanted to become a sports journalist since middle school. Part of that is because I still clearly remember LeBron James’ buzzer-beating, game-winning shot over Hedo Turkoglu to beat the Orlando Magic in Game 2 of the 2009 Eastern Conference Finals. There are some moments in sports that are, quite literally, unforgettable.
The other part? My grandfather, who played basketball at Xavier University, still has newspaper box scores from his playing days in the late 60s. Better yet, he has a mental library of true stories, which he admits are “sometimes true.” They range from summer pick up games with Oscar Robertson to a chance encounter with Earl “The Pearl” Monroe at a diner in Philadelphia.
More than 50 years later, my grandpa still holds those memories dear. That’s what I hope to accomplish here in Knoxville — immortalizing those stories. When this generation of high school stars grow up, they can pull up a copy of the paper and regale their children or grandchildren with stories that are, hopefully, “mostly” true.
My interest in sports journalism has given me amazing experiences all across the country. Instead of staying close to home for college, I traveled 10 hours east to Hampton, Virginia to attend Hampton University. The writing basics I learned were infused with a strong sense of HBCU culture, which I honed further as a student content creator for the HBCU Pulse covering sports at Hampton and other HBCUs.
My HBCU roots also fueled my first story as an intern at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel last year where I covered the Packers, Brewers, Bucks, Marquette basketball, and much more. Before the internship, I graduated from the Sports Journalism Institute, a program that takes college sports writers and brings them to Phoenix, Arizona for intense training and networking.
Despite my strong family history here, I’ve never been to Knoxville before. I never thought to ask my great-grandmother about the city, but I won’t have that opportunity. She passed away a few days before her 99th birthday in 2016.
As I drive around Knoxville, bouncing between high schools to write stories that last a lifetime, I’ll be wondering if she walked the same streets and frequented the same shops and restaurants. In more ways than one, my first job post-grad will be a family history lesson.
And I can’t wait to get started.
An unfamiliar homecoming: Meet new Knox News high school sports writer Wynton Jackson – Knoxville News Sentinel
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