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into the pro football hall of fame in 2010
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noted poet, author,
courtesy Brian Weller
courtesy chaz Palla/Tribune-Review
pitt legend inducted
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and university of pittsburgh english professor named a distinguished daughter of pennsylvania
Rickey Jackson Drafted by the New Orleans Saints in 1981, Jackson made an immediate impact on the NFL by setting a franchise rookie sack record (eight) and leading the team in tackles (125). He is widely recognized as an integral figure in the Saints’ transition to play-off contenders in the late 1980s. In 1987, during New Orleans’ first winning season and play-off appearance, Jackson recorded 9.5 sacks, 74 tackles, three forced fumbles, and two interceptions. In his 13 seasons with the Saints, Jackson was voted to the Pro Bowl five times, named a first-team All-Pro four times, and set a franchise record for career sacks (123). Jackson spent his final two seasons with the San Francisco 49ers, where he was voted to his final Pro Bowl in 1994 and played a major role in the 49ers’ 1994 NFL championship team. Jackson retired after the 1995 season with 128 career sacks and eight interceptions during his 227-game NFL career.
“He gave his heart and soul, his body to this game,” said Benson during Jackson’s Hall of Fame enshrinement. “Not only the sacks and tackles and so forth, it’s the energy and the commitment to playing football. He loved every minute of it, and he really worked hard at it.” As a Panther, Jackson was a key contributor to Pitt’s legendary 1980 football squad, which was ranked the number one defensive unit in the country that season. During the 1980 season, Jackson led the team with 137 tackles, amassed 12 sacks, and was named a Sports Illustrated Player of the Week. Jackson finished his career at Pitt with 290 total tackles, 21 sacks, and three interceptions.
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Tom Benson, owner of the New Orleans Saints and Jackson’s Hall of Fame presenter, said Jackson possessed intangibles both on and off the field that made him born to play the game of football.
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Courtesy Pro Football Hall of Fame
Former University of Pittsburgh linebacker Rickey Jackson was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2010. Jackson became the sixth former Panther to achieve football’s highest individual honor, joining Pitt legends Russ Grimm, Dan Marino (A&S ’83), Tony Dorsett, Mike Ditka (A&S ’61), and Joe Schmidt (EDUC ’53).
Toi Derricotte This is an excerpt of an article that orignally appeared in the November 2, 2009, edition of the Pitt Chronicle.
Prizes, and the first Dudley Randall Award for National Contributions to Literature.
Noted poet, author, and University of Pittsburgh English Professor Toi Derricotte was designated a Distinguished Daughter of Pennsylvania by Governor Edward G. Rendell and First Lady Judge Marjorie O. Rendell in 2009. Derricotte was one of eight women to receive the distinction for their contributions to a variety of career fields.
Derricotte earned a BA degree in special education at Wayne State University in 1965 and an MA degree in English literature and creative writing at New York University in 1984.
A Pitt faculty member since 1998, Derricotte is cofounder and director of Cave Canem, the first workshop/retreat committed to the discovery and cultivation of new voices in African American poetry. She is the author of more than a thousand poems in published anthologies and journals as well as the books of poetry Empress of the Death House (Lotus Press, 1978); Natural Birth (The Crossing Press, 1983); Captivity (University of Pittsburgh Press, 1989); and Tender (University of Pittsburgh Press, 1997), which won the 1998 Paterson Poetry Prize.
In 1949, Pennsylvania began the tradition of inviting the governor to name the Distinguished Daughters of Pennsylvania, those whose achievements have brought honor and recognition to the commonwealth. Other 2009 honorees were Pitt alumnus and trustee Eva Tansky Blum (A&S ’70, LAW ’73), Veronica Froman, an officer in the U.S. Navy for more than 30 years; Juliet Goodfriend, founder of the consulting firm Strategic Marketing Corporation; Jacqueline Collins Morby, an innovator in the fields of business and philanthropy; Judith Joy Ross, an internationally exhibited photographer; Judith Shapiro, former president of Barnard College from 1994 to 2008; and C. Vivian Stringer, head coach of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey’s women’s basketball team.
Her literary memoir The Black Notebooks: An Interior Journey (W.W. Norton & Company, 1997) was a recipient of the 1998 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award and the Black Caucus of the American Library Association Nonfiction Award, and was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. She has won numerous other awards and honors, including a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2004, two fellowships in poetry from the National Endowment for the Arts, two Pushcart
“This year’s Distinguished Daughters of Pennsylvania have done extraordinary work in many different capacities,” said Governor Rendell. “Their contributions to Pennsylvania and the nation have benefited everything from academics to athletics, the arts to the military, as well as businesses and communities. I am grateful for the work that these women have done on our behalf to strengthen our state and the quality of life for so many residents.” ,
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