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Beau Jackson, track

By Mike Ciarochi, For The Greene County Messenger 4 min read
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Just like his twin brother, Beau Jackson is a three-sport star at West Greene High School who is headed to Waynesburg University.

Of course, there are more similarities than there are differences between these two identical twins and here is another.

Beau’s twin, Bray, was honored as the Pioneers winter sports male athlete. Beau, is being honored as West Greene’s top male athlete in the spring sports season in the Centennial Chevrolet Scholar/Athlete Spotlight program.

Both Jackson boys are sons of Brian and Crystal Jackson of Waynesburg and both have a a seventh-grade brother named Benjamin, a third-grade brother named Brian and one sister, fifth-grader BreAnn. Beau carries a 3.97 GPA, which is not just happenstance. Teaching is kind of in his blood.

“I’m going to Waynesburg University to major in education and become a teacher,” Jackson said. “I’m also going to play football. I’ll play offensive line, most likely at center. Education is something I thought I’d be good at and I really plan to get into coaching, so I thought it would be easier to get into coaching through education. My dad is a teacher. He used to teach history here, then he was the principal here, then he went to the California School District and now he’s the superintendent there. My uncle Kevin is a principal also, in Maryland. I want to be either a social studies teacher in high school or an elementary school teacher.”

Brian Jackson did a lot for Beau as an athlete, as well as helping his son academically. So, too, did Beau’s twin brother.

“My dad has had the greatest influence on me as an athlete because he was such a good coach to me and always pushes me to be better, but also my twin brother Bray has been such a good influence on me,” Beau Jackson said. “He’s always working hard and it’s kind of like that brother rivalry, where you always want to be just as good as him. He really likes the javelin, but he’ll also do the shot put and discus.”

His most memorable sports moment at West Greene may not have happened yet, but he has fond memories of a a football game from his senior season.

“I actually didn’t get to play in the game because of injury, but I really enjoyed being a part of our quadruple overtime football game against Serra Catholic. My best friend, Harry Ingram, kicked the extra point that we won the game on, 44-43,” Jackson said. “I had sprained my MCL, so I had to sit out three games and that was the last one.”

Jackson hopes he can qualify for the WPIAL track meet in the discus throw.

“That’s my best event. I also throw shot put, but I’m not very good at shot put,” Jackson said. “I haven’t qualified for WPIALs yet, but it is my goal for this year. I was told by my coach that 119 is the qualifying standard and I’ve thrown 116, so I think I can do it.”

Beau Jackson has had some fun because he shares the name of another famous athlete, a Heisman Trophy winning running back who happens to spell his first name differently.

“A lot of people think it’s pretty cool,” Jackson said. “They’ll say, ‘Do you know who Bo Jackson is?’ I’m like, yeah, I know exactly who he is. They want to know if I’m named after him and I just say, no, my name is spelled differently than his. I am a Bo Jackson fan. I like watching his highlights and stuff.”

Growing up a twin is something most of us will never understand, but it’s a way of life for these two Pioneers, who both played football, basketball and participated in track at West Greene.

“I am bigger than him,” Beau said of the differences between him and twin Bray. “He’s probably around 210, I’m around 230. My face is more chubby and he has a more narrow face. I have a scar on my head. It doesn’t really matter to us. We try not to match, obviously. Sometimes, we’ll try on the same shirt and not realize it.

“He is going to Waynesburg also, but it just kind of worked out that way. He was looking at a few other schools, but I was set on Waynesburg just because I want to try to play football there. As it turns out, he’s going to play football there, too. He’s going to play linebacker.”

So now, the figuring out which Jackson is which falls to Waynesburg University. Just remember, Beau is the bigger man on campus.

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