PHOENIX — After being enshrined last month in the basketball cathedral named after Dr. James Naismith — and being honored as one of Illinois' all-time greats this weekend — Mannie Jackson will be a part of seven different halls of fame.
Not bad for a kid born and partially raised in a box car in segregated southern Illinois.
"It never even crossed my mind back then. I could never have even dreamed about anything like this," Jackson said Thursday, two days before the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer becomes a part of the brand-new Illinois Athletics Hall of Fame.