Chicago high school coach talks friendship with Seahawks WR coach Frisman Jackson
Four Chicago-area football players are now Super Bowl champions following Sunday night's matchup between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots.
There's another Seahawks fan from Chicago who does his work from the sidelines. A former Morgan Park High School student, turned NFL coach, held the Lombardi trophy high.
People who knew him said he went from humble beginnings to one of football's biggest stages.
"The kids always want to know, who you got, coach, who you pulling for? I'm like, man, I got Seattle all day," said Corliss High School coach Keith Brookshire.
Before the confetti and trophy of Super Bowl LX came the friendship.
"He's like, I just arrived at the stadium, I'm soaking it all in. He's like, I've been doing this for 33 years, straight, either playing or coaching, all for this moment right here," Brookshire said.
He said he got a text message hours before the championship on Sunday from his former student and current Seattle Seahawks wide receivers coach Frisman Jackson. The unexpected moment of gratitude caught him off guard.
But Brookshire said that's an insight into Jackson's character, who never forgot where he came from.
"He comes from humble beginnings, and he knows what he had to go through. You know, I remember him having holes in his cleats. We had to tape his glasses up," he said.
Brookshire said the two have kept in touch, watching Jackson set records at Western Illinois University and play four seasons with the Cleveland Browns, where he would collect barely used equipment from his fellow NFL stars and send it to his alma mater.
"So all the orange stuff we used to get over at Morgan Park, he'll put it all in, like, two or three boxes, and he'd ship it to us. So we had shoes for the kids that didn't have shoes. You know, we had gloves, we had winter gear," he said.
Brookshire cheered for Jackson, sometimes joining on the sidelines, but a moment he never expected came hours after the Super Bowl, waking up to a photo of his friend holding the Lombardi trophy high — a culmination of decades of dedication and determination.
"He was just like, man, none of this would be possible without you. I just want you to know that I appreciate you and everything you did. So it almost brought tears to my eyes," he said.
Brookshire coaches for Corliss High School, but said Morgan Park didn't win a prep bowl championship until years after Jackson had graduated.
But when they did, Jackson was playing for the browns and paid for the students' championship rings. Now, when he returns to talk to students, as he so often does, he will have his own Super Bowl ring to show.
