On July 8, Lompoc High School and Allan Hancock College alum Rijo Jackson signed to play basketball for Northland College in Wisconsin.
Jackson, a Lompoc native, is part of the Jackson family. “My grandfather and Michael’s dad, Joseph, they’re brothers, so that’s how he’s in the picture,” he explained. He remembers the King of Pop fondly: “Ever since I was little, I traveled with him. He really took me under his wing. I was raised around a bunch of women, and he was my male mentor.”
It’s the basketball court, not the stage, where Rijo finds release. “Some people dance and listen to music,” he explained. “I play basketball. It’s my place to cope, my stress reliever.”
On the court, he’s a shooter—a shooting guard, hanging around on the edge of the paint and firing off three-point shots when he can.
“For me,” Jackson said, “My theory is why move more when you can move less and score more?” He’s not a fan of the Warriors—praised for their field goals—but instead prefers the Phoenix Suns.
“I love the way they play,” he said. “It’s a transition game. As soon as they get a transition, it’s an open three.”
Transitioning to Hancock was as hard as any shot outside the paint for Jackson. “I wasn’t as mature; I wasn’t as old,” he recalled. “Coach Gordon gave me a shot, and I proved that I was worthy.” He took classes in criminal justice and sociology and played two seasons for the Bulldogs.
A foot injury last year prevented Jackson from playing at Northland, so he stuck around in Lompoc and worked at the YMCA as a child care provider and youth instructor.
Now, however, he’s ready to play competitive basketball again. In the fall, he’ll start as the first member of his family to attend a four-year university. Jackson hopes that basketball will give him the focus and the drive to learn as much as he can at school.
“I’m going for an education,” he stated emphatically. “And to be able to play the sport that I’ve been playing my whole life. You gotta get educated. And if I don’t want to play a sport, but I’m going to school—I don’t want to [just] go to school,” he said, before pausing. “I want something that grabs me into school.”
This article appears in Jul 16-23, 2015.