Jackson Winters

“To know how to wish is the secret of success.”

Jackson Winters, 91, died peacefully in Portland, Oregon, on April 21, 2021. He was born on June 24, 1929 in Fordyce, Arkansas to Newt Winters and Eliza Humphrey Winters. Jackson married Marilyn Anita Whaley, his high school girlfriend, on April 16, 1954 in Brockton, Massachusetts. Marilyn, a committed worldwide community leader and volunteer, died unexpectedly on January 7, 2018 in Bakersfield, California where the couple was living at the time of her death. Jackson is survived by two children, Jackson Marshall Winters and Lauren Elizabeth Winters; three grandchildren; one sister; and a host of family, relatives, and friends.

Jackson, considered by many to be the Jackie Robinson of Portland amateur basketball, was one of the first African Americans to make the Portland High School All-City basketball team, and the first African American to play basketball at the University of Portland where he was a four-year letterman for the Pilots. At the end of his college career, Jackson had scored 1,033 points making him a member of the University of Portland’s exclusive and elite 1,000 Point Club, a feat that was accomplished without the benefits of a three-point line or a shot clock. Jackson was inducted into the Portland Interscholastic League (PIL) Hall of Fame on April 15, 2020.

After Jackson finished playing basketball for the Pilots, he played for the Original Harlem Globetrotters. Jackson also played and coached basketball in Montreal, Canada for the Montreal Coutu Huskies and, as a player-coach, with the Northern Oilers; additionally, he coached the Loyola University Warriors of Montreal to the Ottawa Valley-St. Lawrence Athletic Conference Championship.

In 1954, Jackson received a Certificate in Organization and Administration of a Boys’ Club from the University of Illinois. Upon leaving Chicago in 1956, he worked for the St. Mark Community Center in Roxbury, Massachusetts and later served as the Director of the Negro Community Centre in Montreal. Jackson was associated with many community youth organizations whose premise was, “it is cheaper to operate a recreational service for youths than it is to maintain penal institutions for juvenile criminals.” Fundraising Interview, “Make sure the Child is at the right place on time,” New England Police & Fire Examiner (“Winters summed up the situation for the community as follows: The choice is yours – a baseball game or a gang war.”).

On March 9, 1972, Jackson received a Bachelor of Laws degree from LaSalle Extension University, a Correspondence Institution founded in 1908. After moving with Marilyn and their children to Southern California. Jackson worked for more than 30 years as an investment advisor and in the oil industry, including founding his own investment firm and an oil company – Great Western Drilling - until his retirement.