Something I’ll mention here that I didn’t want to mention in the article was what happened to Wayne. After his first contest Bill Clark wrote of him, “Look out Russians…here comes Wayne Jackson”. My Uncle Phil said Wayne had the talent to be a world champ. But he was very introverted and had what we call our “family curse”…Depression. Wayne was my best buddy when I was a kid. When he was 20 he had a very severe depressive episode and was then on heavy medication the rest of his life. This no doubt impacted his progress because he never made much progress after that. Another thing was whatever he did in training…he’d do about 80-85% of that in a contest. Except on one rare occassion when he won his last State Title with a big Clean and Jerk. My Uncle Phil was there and was able to get him to drop the inhibitions and go all out. I can tell you I started training with him when he was 35 and he did some amazing things over the next 10 years before age started getting to him. He hurt his back at one point and was told surgery could correct it…but he was too fearful of doctors to do it and just lived with it. Wayne is my hero and he overcame a lot with his depression….I would even say the lifting is probably what saved him!
Thom Van Vleck
Jackson Weightlifting Club
Highland Games athlete and sometimes All-Rounder