Although they won’t ever be actual teammates, the brother-sister bond they have is even stronger than anything they’d forge sharing a field. John, four years older than Simone, has played and will continue to play a major role in her life as a big brother, role model, confidant and support system.
“As someone I look up to, he’s everything you’d want in a big brother and more,” said Jackson. “He’s always been so supportive of me, so kind, and never minded me tagging along and trying to do everything he did. Everyone wants to be around John. He’s just a personable guy and he does everything with flair. He may look intimidating on the football field, but he loves life and it’s contagious.”
Growing up in Redondo Beach in the South Bay of Los Angeles, John and Simone attended different high schools — he at Serra in Gardena, and she closer to home at Bishop Montgomery — and of course they played different sports. That meant many miles of driving for her parents on the freeways of Southern California, lots of homework in the car, scarfing down dinner in the mini-van, hundreds of club soccer games and plenty of cheering at each other’s sporting events.
Tiring? Yes. But for Simone, it was the best of times.
“I just loved it,” she said while also crediting her parents for their never-ending support and inspiration. “The weekends were eventful to say the least. We would call our trips “soccer-cations,” “football-cations” and “baseball-cations” because traveling all over the country became the new vacation. No one weekend ever looked the same and there was always lots of laundry to do, but then it was on to the next game.”
The Jackson kids come from an athletic family and have USC cardinal and gold running through their veins. Their father, John Jr., set USC’s career pass reception record with 163 catches from 1986-89 as a wide receiver, won the Rose Bowl and played in the NFL. He was also USC’s first double Academic All-American in football and baseball. He played baseball for USC as an outfielder, setting the school career mark for stolen bases (54) and leading the team in hitting in 1989 while batting .356. He would also go on to play professionally for four years in the Angels organization. Their grandfather, John Jackson Sr., was USC football’s running backs coach and offensive coordinator from 1976-81. Their mom, Ann Frances, ran track in high school and attended — perish the thought — UCLA. Simone’s younger brother, Jaden, is a high school freshman and talented baseball prospect.
Unsurprisingly, the Jackson household got quite competitive.
“We competed in everything, said Simone. “Soccer, basketball, football, track, chess, Wii sports video games. Let me tell you, Monopoly would never end well.”
But through all that time, the siblings were pushing each other, making each other better. Simone didn’t exactly “follow” her brother to USC, but John’s being a Trojan and the legacy aspect played a big part in her college decision. So did the campus being so close to home and her eventual major: business administration with an emphasis in cinematic arts and a minor in screen writing and comedy. Yeah, she’s an LA girl.