MOULTRIE – Two Moultrie locals have made a big splash in water sports. Both were honored in August with induction into the Georgia Aquatic Hall of Fame.
Tommie Lee Jackson Jr. and Jud Campbell are the inductees for the class of 2020, which was postponed for three years due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to an article on Swim Swam. Campbell is a former national diving champion, while Jackson is a longtime coach.
Jackson graduated from William Bryant High School, Albany State and Georgia State. He competed for recreational teams at Moultrie in the 1960s before becoming a swimmer and diver for the Albany State Rams
After college, Jackson taught at several schools, from elementary school to college. He moved to Atlanta and began coaching the Atlanta Dolphins. The annual Tommie L. Jackson Diversity Invitational was named after him. Thanks to his guidance, his swimmers have set numerous records in their age groups, as well as at the state and national levels. Jackson has coached swimmers who have competed in Olympic trials, and he has also coached swimmers who won medals at the Paralympics, including Curtis Lovejoy, one of America’s most decorated Paralympians.
He was the coach of the United States national swimming team from 2009 to 2010.
Jackson won numerous diversity awards, including the USA Swimming Diversity and Inclusion Award in 2019 and the Diversity in Aquatics Jim Ellis Award in 2020. In 2016, the Moultrie Observer reported that Jackson won the 30th Annual Black History Invitational Swim Meet in Washington, DC
Campbell began diving at Moss Farms as an 8-year-old and went on to launch a coveted junior career competing with three internationally recognized coaches: Moose Moss, Jay Lerew and Wenbo Chen.
He then went to the University of Georgia, where he became a record holder under coach Dan Laak.
The highlight of his career came in August 2000 when he defeated future U.S. Olympic team member Troy Dumais to capture the 1-meter championship at the U.S. National Outdoor Championships in Mission Viejo, California.
His career began in 1992 when he was named to the Can-Am-Mex team as a 13-year-old and won a silver medal in the 3-meter springboard and a bronze medal in the 1-meter springboard in Pasadena. Calif.
He also won a silver medal at the Junior Olympic National Championships.
A year later, he was called up to the national team and competed at the Crystal Palace National Sports Center in London, England.
In 1994, he won a bronze medal at the Can-Am-Mex meet and was a first-time All-American in high school.
The next year, he won two YMCA national championships and set records on both the 1-meter and 3-meter springboard.
In 1996, he was named Georgia Male Junior Diver of the Year and placed fifth in the 1-meter and 14th in the platform at the US National Championships.
In 1997, he won the YMCA National Championship in the 1-meter dash and placed second in the 3-meter dash; was a YMCA All-American; a high school champion from Georgia; a high school All-American; a National Academic All-American; and was both Georgia’s junior and senior diver of the year.
Campbell agreed to attend the University of Georgia and made an immediate impact.
And as a freshman, he placed first on the 1-meter board at the SEC Championships, giving Georgia its first SEC title since Billy Ray Schmidt won the last of his five championships in 1967.
He also finished third in the 3 meters and sixth in the platform at the SEC Championships.
Also that year at the NCAA National Championships, he placed fourth in the 1-meter dash and earned All-American honors in the 1-meter dash and honorable mention All-American in the 3-meter dash and on the platform.
In 1999, he defended his SEC 1-meter championship in Lexington, Kentucky, setting a Georgia record with a score of 571.0.
During that season, he broke the Georgia dual record in the 1-meter dash four times, was named All-SEC, and received honorable mention All-American in the 1-meter dash and platform.
In addition to winning his national championship in 2000, he was named All-SEC and All-American. He was All-SEC again as a senior.
During his career, he was named Georgia Diver of the Year four times; a nine-time NCAA All-American; three-time SEC champion; He was named SEC Co-Diver of the Year in 2001 and was a three-time MVP of the University of Georgia swimming and diving team.
He was also a three-time Academic All-American.
After graduating from Georgia with a degree in management information systems, he received a scholarship to and graduated from Pepperdine University Law School. Although he passed the bar exam, Campbell is a police lieutenant in San Diego, California, where he and his family live.
