Leonard George, left, and Willie Jackson Sr. became the first African-American players to sign with the Gators when both inked scholarships the same week in December 1968. (File photo)
Together Again: Former Gators Leonard George and Willie Jackson Get Special Honor
Friday, October 4, 2019 | Football, Scott Carter
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By: Scott Carter, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – On a Tuesday afternoon in December 1968, Leonard George and his parents posed for the historic photograph at Tampa's Jesuit High School. Three nights later at the Sarasota home of Gators alumnus Art Ginsberg, the cameras captured Willie Jackson and a pair of teammates for a similar photo.
In each snapshot Gators head coach Ray Graves, who had been in the hospital the previous week for a serious bout of bronchitis, flashed a toothy smile as UF made history by signing its first two African-American football players. On Saturday afternoon at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, George and Jackson return to campus as honorary captains to celebrate the 50-year anniversary of the 1969 Gators and their unique place in the program's 113-year history. Leonard George at his signing ceremony. (File photo courtesy of The Tampa Bay Times)
"It's going to be fun, especially to get a chance to see all the guys again, the ones you haven't seen in quite a while,'' Jackson said. "It's time, with all the notoriety that the school is getting and the players are getting. They forget about the ones who got it started, the ones who were there before them. It's just a forgotten thing and it's good to be recognized."
Jackson's story is one that was revisited in the 1990s when his sons, receiver Willie Jackson Jr. and running back Terry Jackson, signed with the Gators and played key roles in the program's rise under former head coach Steve Spurrier.
A native of Sarasota, Jackson signed with the Gators out of Valley Forge (Pa.) Military Academy, where he spent his final season in high school after starring at Sarasota High. He had a productive career with the Gators – totaling 75 receptions for 1,170 yards and eight touchdowns – and served as an activist on campus during a time when the Civil Rights Act opened doors previously closed for African-Americans across America.
Meanwhile, George has not been back to UF since the early 1990s when he attended a game with Willie Sr. to watch Willie Jr. play. Following his playing career, George spent time as a TV news reporter in the Tampa Bay area, worked in politics in Tallahassee, returned to UF to earn a law degree and moved to Atlanta, where he spent more than a decade running his own firm.
In the 1990s, seeking a new adventure, he disappeared from public life and moved to Hawaii, where he lived for more than 20 years until returning home to Florida earlier this year.
"We thought he had passed away because we hadn't heard from him in so long,'' Jackson Sr. said this week. "We tried to get in touch with him. No one knew and all of a sudden, he pops up. He's risen from the dead."
As part of their 50-year reunion, the '69 Gators have a dinner scheduled Friday night in Gainesville to reminisce and prepare for Saturday's special moment for George and Jackson prior to the 10th-ranked Gators game against No. 7-ranked Auburn.
George (check out FloridaGators.com for more on his story next week) has relished the past few weeks as he has reconnected with so many people from his past.
"It's really amazing because I've been away for so long and to come back and have such a reception is really unbelievable,'' he said. "I'd say this is really an exceptional situation as far as I'm concerned. I haven't seen some of these people in 50 years. That's amazing. Some I haven't seen in 20 years. It's really nice to actually be back and to get a reception."
Fifty years later, their place in UF history resonates as if yesterday. Willie Jackson, front right, at his signing ceremony. (Photo: Courtesy of The Tampa Bay Times)
"It was me and Willie and that time. It really was an amazing situation," George said. "At the time when you are 18 years old, you don't really think about it. But it's only after time passes that you realize it was something that was really special."
George and Jackson arrived during a period when the UF student body was almost entirely white. They hung out together and made friends with other African-American students who faced similar challenges.
Both players said Graves and the Gators welcomed them with open arms. The same was true after the 1969 season when Doug Dickey replaced Graves as head coach.
"You can imagine with us being the first blacks on the team,'' George said. "They were very cooperative and very nice to us. It wasn't like we really had to go through the team [for acceptance]."
The two men recently met up to get reacquainted. George has moved back to Tampa. Jackson lives in Jacksonville. The stories flowed like fine wine aged over the years.
"We started this thing," Jackson said. "It's a good thing that it's going well and we hope that we can keep it going well."
While George has been absent from the Gators for decades, Jackson has not. He attends games often and maintains many friendships from his college days.
Still, Saturday is going to be special as an honorary captain.
