Pool in Georgia Named After Pioneering Coach Tommie Lee Jackson Jr.
A pool in Moultrie, Ga., this week was named for Hall of Fame coach Tommie Lee Jackson Jr.
The Tommie Lee Jackson Jr. Aquatic Center was dedicated in northwest Moultrie on Thursday. The pool, opened in 1959, is located near where Jackson grew up in Southern Georgia. From his swimming roots in area ponds, Jackson became a hall of fame coach whose pupils include Sabir Muhammad and Paralympic gold medalist Curtis Lovejoy.
Jackson was inducted to the Georgia Aquatics Hall of Fame in 2023.
“There was something about that water,” he said. “This is where I learned to swim, to compete and where I learned to teach swimming.”
Jackson attended William Bryant High School, playing football and basketball as well as his interest in aquatics. He served in the U.S. Army in Vietnam for three years before attending Albany State, where he lettered in swimming and diving. He received his master’s degree in education at Georgia State and has worked as a teacher for many years.
He began coaching at age 40. He remains an active coach, working with age-group, senior, Paralympic and Masters swimmers. At Albany State, he said he was inspired by instructor Wilburn Campbell to continue in coaching.
“He believed in me,” Jackson said. “He gave me the opportunity to be a competitive diver at age 25.”
Jackson became an assistant coach for the Atlanta Dolphins in 1986, rising to head coach three years later. He began working with Atlanta native Lovejoy there. Lovejoy went on to win two gold medals at the 2000 Paralympics, then silver and bronze in Athens four years later. The two maintained their coaching relationship for 36 years. Lovejoy was inducted to the Aquatics Hall of Fame in 2023.
Among Jackson’s other pupils were Olympic Trials qualifiers Muhammad, Muhajid El Amin, Derek Cox and Miles Simon. He coached Haitian Olympian Naomi Grand-Pierre, earning him head coaching duties at the 2016 Olympics for the country, as well as renowned Masters swimmers Marianne Countryman.
Jackson has won many awards for his coaching. In 2016, he received USA Swimming’s Diversity and Inclusion Award. In 2020, he received the Jim Ellis Diversity in Aquatics Award. Jackson has chaired the Georgia LSC’s Diversity Committee since its formation.
In addition to coaching, Jackson has been a teacher at the elementary and middle school levels and a university professor. He was joined at the dedication by his wife, Delores, with whom he has raised five children.
