What a lesson to us all! Stephen Jackson, \”Stack Jack,\” is a former NBA star for the Warriors, and he continues to play the game. He\’s 40 years old and \”still ballin\’.\”
It doesn\’t matter that he\’s not in the NBA.
It doesn\’t matter that he\’s not getting paid to be on a team.
He loves to play ball.
That means he\’s having fun, staying engaged and — He Keeps Doing What He Loves to Do!
We should all continue to do what we love to do. That\’s why we are here… Jackson says:
“I don\’t understand how people who retire automatically stop playing. I\’m gonna keep playing \’til God takes my blessing from me.”
Read on for a great sports San Francisco Chronicle article on this inspiring player who continues to follow his passion. So should we!
Follow It,
Pamela
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\’Until you can\’t do it no more\’ —ex-Warrior Jackson, 40, still ballin\’
San Francisco Chronicle, 5 July 2018
By Scott Ostler
\”If you really love something, you gonna do it until you can\’t do it no more,\” he said. \”And that\’s how I feel about basketball. I\’m good at it, so I play with a passion, and I\’m gonna continue to play it. I don\’t understand how people who retire automatically stop playing. I\’m gonna keep playing \’til God takes my blessing from me.\”
If Bob Myers is looking for a 6-foot-8 swing-man who can run the point, shoot the three, play high-level defense, and give the Warriors some Draymond Green-level grit and leadership, he might want to wander over to Oracle Arena on Friday night. The Big3 — the upstart three-on-three professional basketball league — is in town. One of the teams, the Killer 3s, has this intense kid they call Stack Jack.
Stephen Jackson. Actually, Myers knows his team history and surely remembers that Jackson was the heartbeat of the \”We Believe\” Warriors who upset the top-seeded Mavericks in the first round of the playoffs in 2007.
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That was a crazy, couldn\’t-happen situation, so who can blame Jackson for still believing?
\”You know what would be a great situation?\” Jackson said in a phone interview. \”I come out there (to Oakland), we have a good game and we win, and the Warriors sign me to a one year deal. Wouldn\’t that be great?\”
That\’s the type of interesting people and accomplished ballplayers the Big3 is trotting around the country in its second season. At its first two stops this year, the one-day tournament drew an average of 15,000 fans. It\’s playground style three-on-three, first team to 50 wins. There is a 14-second shot clock, and there are four-point-shot zones from 30 feet out.
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The league is stocked with players and coaches with Oakland background: Baron Davis (player), Gary Payton (coach) and Rick Barry (coach). Amy Trask, Al Davis\’ longtime right-hand person, is the league\’s chairwoman. They\’ll play four games Friday at Oracle. Rapper and actor Ice Cube is the league\’s co-creator.
Jackson, who is 40 and last played in the NBA in the 2013-14 season, has fond memories of the \”We Believe\” days. Don Nelson, then the Warriors\’ head coach not only welcomed Jackson, he appointed him captain. Jackson responded by teaming with Davis, Monta Ellis, and Jason Richardson to lead the Warriors into the playoffs and over the stunned Mavericks.
\”It\’s easy to go out there and fight and scratch and play and sweat and bleed for guys that you consider your friends, your brothers,\” Jackson said of the We Believers. \”I been knowin\’ Baron since I was 16, I been knowin\’ Al since I was 19.\”
\”If you ask the fans in the Bay Area, they love winnin\’ these championships right now, but they\’ll tell you they got a special place in their hearts for us. It\’s gonna feel good to come back to Oracle and play — I can\’t wait to get that feeling back again.\”
Jackson hasn\’t lost an ounce of passion for the game. He plays in various leagues, in pickup games, works out daily, [and] says he\’s in NBA condition.
\”If you really love something, you gonna do it until you can\’t do it no more,\” he said. \”And that\’s how I feel about basketball. I\’m good at it, so I play with a passion, and I\’m gonna continue to play it. I don\’t understand how people who retire automatically stop playing. I\’m gonna keep playing \’til God takes my blessing from me.\”
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Stephen Jesse Jackson (born April 5, 1978) is an American retired professional basketball player who played 14 seasons in the National Basketball Association with the New Jersey Nets, Indiana Pacers, Golden State Warriors, Milwaukee Bucks, Charlotte Bobcats, San Antonio Spurs, and Los Angeles Clippers (NBA). Jackson won an NBA championship in 2003 as a member of the San Antonio Spurs.
Jackson was born in Port Arthur, Texas and spent his childhood there. Growing up, Jackson was raised by his mother, Judyette, a single parent who worked two jobs. As a teenager, Jackson worked in his grandfather\’s soul food restaurant in Port Arthur, where he would wash dishes and bus tables. At the age of 16, Jackson\’s half-brother Donald Buckner died at 25 years old from head injuries after being jumped. Following the violent tragedy, Jackson said that he wished he could have been there to assist and protect a member of his family. \”You can\’t tell me seeing his brother die that way hasn\’t had an effect,\” recalls Pacers CEO Donnie Walsh. \”To me, it\’s why he is always coming to the help of his teammates.” On July 22, 2015, Jackson announced his retirement. In 2017, Jackson joined the BIG3 basketball league.
The above is an excerpt. Read more of his biography here.