Albany football great pens autobiography

ALBANY — Bobby Jackson’s coaching and business duties keep him away from his hometown of Albany for most of the year, but he always finds time to come home.

For starters, he has family here and the former Albany High, Florida State and NFL star just has too many connections to stay away for too long.

While some of the landmarks he grew up with might have gone away, the memories haven’t.

“The area has changed,” Jackson said. “The house I grew up in in the projects, (on Society), is still there near the stadium. But a lot of places in the community where I grew up have been torn down, people have been relocated all over the city.

“When I come back, in my mind’s eye I can see other things. But this town has changed quite a bit.”

With the help of former highschool teammate turned author Bill Lightle, Jackson has written an autobiography, “Straight Outta CME,” that went on sale this week.

While the book chronicles Jackson’s life playing college and professional football, as well as his life after he hung up the pads, quite a bit of the book takes him back to 1960s and 1970s Albany, right in the midst of the desegregation era.

“I took it, obviously, from ‘Straight Outta Compton,’ I really liked that,” said Jackson, who played his senior year at Albany in the fall of 1973 before graduating and enrolling early at Florida State. “Most people think nothing good comes from that area of town. Back when I was growing up, that was the place to be.”

“It’s about the history of the area I grew up in, and this book relates to my experiences growing up here, the great mentors I had, people in my neighborhood, my parents, my grandparents, good friends, that type of thing. I wanted to relate to that.”

The book will be available today at a book signing scheduled to take place from 4-7 p.m. at the Merry Acres Inn, 1500 Dawson Road in Albany. Several players and coaches from that era have been invited to attend, including Ferrell Henry, Albany’s head coach from 1970-73.

Lightle played quarterback at Albany. Jackson was a receiver and a defensive back, making his mark in the NFL as a defensive back for the New York Jets.

“He was a very good one,” Jackson said. “He wrote a book about our experiences in training camp (‘Made or Broken: Football and Survival in the Georgia Woods’), so I asked him to do my book, and this is how it came about.”

In addition to today’s event, both books are available for purchase at amazon.com.