Oct. 15, 2010
BERKELEY - Herb Jackson '57, a fierce rugby player for the Golden Bears who also starred as a running back on the gridiron and lettered in track for California, and later was elected District Attorney of Sacramento County, died from cancer Oct. 8 at the age of 75.
Born in 1935 in San Francisco, Henry Herbert Jackson moved as a toddler to Sacramento and graduated from McClatchy High School in 1952.
On the rugby pitch at Cal, Jackson played center and was known as a tenacious tackler on the 1955 and '56 teams that won the World Cup series at the University of British Columbia. He was also a captain on the Bears football team in 1956, Pappy Waldorf's last season, which culminated with a 20-18 over Stanford in the Big Game at Memorial Stadium.
Drafted by the Los Angeles Rams after graduation, Jackson instead enrolled at the Hastings College of the Law and earned his law degree in 1961. In 1967 he established a firm with future Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy.
"Herb Jackson was a hero to all who knew him," Justice Kennedy said. "He was bigger than life and not afraid to show everyone how much he loved them."
District Attorney Jan Scully, the mother of Cal senior rugger Blaine, also remembered the man who hired her as a prosecutor in 1979.
"Herb has always been a tremendous cheerleader for me," Scully said. "Everyone in the office loved him. He made us laugh, and we were all so happy to be around him. He was `old Sacramento' and a real pillar of the community."
After being serving one term as the county D.A., Jackson shifted away from law to open a restaurant in Stinson Beach. He returned to Sacramento after several years and practiced law privately until 2008.
Many Cal rugby alumni were among the more than 500 people in attendance at his memorial service at Holy Spirit Church on Oct. 14.
"He told me many times that of all three varsity sports in which he lettered, he loved rugby the best," said Brock Settlemier, his rugby teammate and roommate their senior year.
"Two days before Herb died my wife Marlene and I traveled to Sacramento to say goodbye to my dear friend. He was semi-conscious and his wife Pat said he would not recognize me. I held his hand and talked to him in a firm, loud voice. I spoke to him about the memories of early days and our rugby camaraderie. Herb squeezed my hand, opened his eyes for the last time, raised his arm and said `rugby.'"
"He didn't regret anything he did at all," said his son, Michael, who also played rugby at Cal in the late-'70s and early '80s. "It's amazing how many people I don't even know who have told me he touched their lives as a lawyer or as a friend. He lived life to the fullest."
Jackson is survived by his wife, Pat; son, Michael; daughters Colleen Hildeburn and Karen Schuppert; sisters Lucy Ellen Hamilton and Susie Yeates; stepchildren Kristen Bruce of Sacramento and Mark Alling; three grandchildren and three step-grandchildren.
Everyone associated with Cal rugby expresses their sincere condolences at the passing of Herb Jackson.
(Source: Sacramento Bee)
