Beloved East Austin High School Football Coach Succumbs To Cancer

EAST AUSTIN, TX — Longtime high school football coach Andrew Jackson passed away Tuesday after succumbing to cancer, according to media reports.

Jackson's storied 28-year career included heading up successful programs at Reagan and LBJ high schools. His final game on Nov. 17 was a loss to Dripping Springs in a bi-district playoff game. Jackson was diagnosed with esophageal cancer that metastasized to his liver and lungs, according to reports.

Coach Jackson was 39-20 during his five seasons at LBJ, and he reached the playoffs in each of his last four years with the Jaguars, the Austin American-Statesman noted.

At a party staged at the LBJ cafeteria in his honor last month, the Statesman reported on an upbeat Jackson holding court while reciting his favorite verses from the Bible. Offering hugs and handshakes to friends and family members, Jackson acknowledged he needed a miracle to beat the cancer — but still was hopefully making coaching plans for 2018.

A member of the choir at Church of the New Testament in East Austin in his boyhood, Jackson expressed how much he had relied on his faith in maintaining a positive outlook despite his diagnosis, the newspaper reported. While his spirit was strong, his body weakened in his final months as he invariably coached much of this season from the press box to avoid having the brutal Texas heat sap his energy, according to the report.

Jackson was 50 years old.

Tributes to Jackson poured into social media and elsewhere as news of his death spread. One admirer recalled the coach's leadership in leading LBJ to 11 wins and the state quarterfinals three years ago despite grieving the death of one of his players. Beyond the gridiron, Jackson was just as inspirational, the former player said via Twitter: "Off the field, it was hard to catch him without a smile."

>>> Read the full story at Austin American-Statesman

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