Mannie Jackson to Premiere Documentary ‘Mannie Jackson: From Boxcar to Boardrooms’ at the Wildey Theatre Feb. 4

EDWARDSVILLE – Former Edwardsville resident Mannie Jackson has selected his hometown as the location for the national premiere of the documentary about his life entitled “Mannie Jackson: From Boxcar to Boardrooms.” The film, which has been produced by two award-winning producers for the Big Ten Network, will debut at 7 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 4 at the Wildey Theatre, before airing on national television Feb. 17.

Lewis and Clark Community College and the Mannie Jackson Endowment and Center for the Humanities will host the premiere event, which is free and open to the public. Seating is limited, so those interested in attending should reserve a general admission seat in advance by logging on to www.lc.edu/manniejackson.

Jackson, who unveiled his best-selling autobiography “Boxcar to Boardrooms” in Edwardsville this spring, will attend the premiere screening. University of Illinois Athletics Director Mike Thomas will serve as master of ceremonies for the event, and will lead a Q&A with Jackson and the documentary’s producers following the 42-minute film.

Much like his autobiography, the film will focus on Jackson’s life, which began in Illmo, Mo., where he lived with his family in a railroad boxcar, before moving to Edwardsville and finding success on the basketball court. He and teammates Governor Vaughn and Don Ohl were recruited to play college basketball at the University of Illinois, where Jackson became a twotime, all-Big Ten player, was elected team captain and, along with Vaughn, became the school’s first African-American basketball players. He then went on to a playing career for the Harlem Globetrotters before rising through the ranks at Honeywell to become a Business Unit President and General Manager, retiring in 1994 as Honeywell’s senior corporate Marketing officer and one of the most influential corporate executives in the country. Jackson later bought the Harlem Globetrotters and became the nation's first African-American owner of a global sports and entertainment brand.

“It would please me if a 1,000-plus people showed up to acknowledge and celebrate the leadership of Lewis and Clark Community College and the Lincoln School Foundation,” Jackson said.

The film’s producers, Alison Davis Wood and Tim Hartin, have been producing national documentaries for two decades. Their programs have received numerous awards including two “Emmy’s,” three “Gracie’s” from American Women in Radio and Television, and more than 20 Emmy nominations. The duo has collaborated on such noted films as “Against the Wind,” the story of wheelchair athlete Jean Driscoll’s attempt to become the first athlete to win seven consecutive Boston Marathons; “Lincoln: Prelude to the Presidency” in 2009; and “Ten Sisters: a True Story,” which was Emmy nominated. 

The two began producing documentaries for the Big Ten Network when they joined Illinois’ Division of Intercollegiate Athletics/Public Affairs in April 2008. Both have also previously worked for WILL-TV (PBS).

“Tim and I are honored to have the opportunity to tell Mannie’s story and share it with a national audience,” Davis Wood said. “Mannie’s life story defies all expectations for a boy born in a railroad box car and raised in Jim Crow America. Not only did he change the face of college sports and corporate America, he continues to help people all over the world realize their own potential. We are extremely proud that he is part of the University of Illinois family.”

This spring Jackson announced the formation of the Mannie Jackson Endowment and Center for the Humanities, a collaborative effort between Jackson, Lewis and Clark Community College and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Lewis and Clark was one of only six community colleges in the nation to be awarded the first Challenge Grant offered to community colleges by the NEH in 2012. 

The Mannie Jackson Endowment and Center for the Humanities will engage students, faculty and the community in collaborative offerings that promote inclusiveness, diversity, service, kindness, leadership, change and the overall meaning of community. The Center will offer lectures, readings, dialogues, public service opportunities and humanities programming for the community and nationally.

“Mannie serves as a role model of transformational leadership to this community and internationally,” Lewis and Clark President Dale Chapman said. “His experiences and his aspirations to provide opportunities to ignite imaginations, nurture community service and sustain the humanities shows his investment in this community. His namesake endowment and this Center will serve to better our community and enrich the lives of generations to come.”

Jackson, who now owns the Historic Lincoln School Building, has pledged $200,000 in cash to support the project, and is working with Lewis and Clark Community College and its Foundation to help raise the additional matching funds for the challenge grant. 

“I envision that the Lincoln School in Edwardsville will be a future home for the Mannie Jackson Endowment and Center for the Humanities that will make our community and the nation a safer, stronger and more enlightened place to live,” Jackson said. “I invite others, who share my vision for this community and my affinity toward the humanities to join me in making this effort a success.”

For more information about the premiere event, or about the Mannie Jackson Endowment and Center for the Humanities at the Historic Lincoln School, visit www.lc.edu/manniejackson, or contact the Lewis and Clark Public Relations department at (618) 468-3200.