You ought to do a story about me: addiction, an unlikely friendship, and the endless quest for redemption

Format:

Book

Title:

You ought to do a story about me: addiction, an unlikely friendship, and the endless quest for redemption

Author:

Jackson, Ted (Photojournalist) author

ISBN:

9780062935670

Edition:

First edition.

Publication:

[New York] : Dey St., an imprint of William Morrow, [2020]

Physical Description:

vi, 329 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Contents:

The prodigal son -- Son of Liberty Street, son of the south -- The wildcat -- The headhunter -- The crash of Icarus -- Twelve long steps -- Do you believe in miracles? -- Triumphant -- Even a dead man leaves a trail -- "Four score and seven years ago" -- So damn smart -- The gateway -- The damage within -- The Lombardi -- Dreams about heaven -- A frame for the wall -- The tip -- Love letters -- Giving hope -- The sabbatical -- Glory days.

Summary:

"The heartbreaking, timeless, and redemptive story of the transformative friendship binding a fallen-from-grace NFL player and a Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist who meet on the streets of New Orleans, offering a rare glimpse into the precarious world of homelessness and the lingering impact of systemic racism and poverty on the lives of NOLA's citizens"-- Provided by publisher.

In 1990, while covering a story about homelessness, Jackson encountered a drug addict sleeping under a bridge. The homeless stranger looked the photojournalist in the eye and said, "You ought to do a story about me." When Jackson asked why, he was stunned by the answer. "Because I've played in three Super Bowls." Jackie Wallace was a former NFL star who rose to the pinnacle of fame and fortune, only to crash and lose it all. Here Jackson describes the details of how Wallace spiraled into addiction and homelessness-- and of the thirty-year relationship the two developed. -- adapted from jacket.

Personal Subject:

Wallace, Jackie, 1951-

Subject(s):

Ex-football players -- United States -- Biography.

Football players -- United States -- Biography.

Drug addicts -- United States -- Biography.

Homeless men -- Louisiana -- New Orleans -- Biography.

New Orleans (La.) -- Biography.

Geographic Term:

New Orleans (La.) -- Biography.

Louisiana -- New Orleans.

United States.

Genre:

Biography.

collective biographies.

Biographies.

Holds:

Available:*

Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Salem Main Library	921 Wallace, Jackie 2020	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

"This masterpiece of dogged and loving reporting will astonish you and touch your heart. The struggles and quest for redemption of football star Jackie Wallace make for a fall-from-grace tale that's both unsettling and uplifting."--Walter Isaacson, author of Steve Jobs and Leonardo da Vinci

The heartbreaking, timeless, and redemptive story of the transformative friendship binding a fallen-from-grace NFL player and a Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist who meet on the streets of New Orleans, offering a rare glimpse into the precarious world of homelessness and the lingering impact of systemic racism and poverty on the lives of NOLA's citizens.

In 1990, while covering a story about homelessness for the New Orleans Times-Picayune, Ted Jackson encountered a drug addict sleeping under a bridge. After snapping a photo, Jackson woke the man. Pointing to the daily newspaper by his feet, the homeless stranger looked the photojournalist in the eye and said, "You ought to do a story about me." When Ted asked why, he was stunned by the answer. "Because, I've played in three Super Bowls."

That chance meeting was the start of Ted's thirty-year relationship with Jackie Wallace, a former NFL star who rose to the pinnacle of fame and fortune, only to crash and lose it all. Getting to know Jackie, Ted learned the details of his life, and how he spiraled into the "vortex of darkness" that left him addicted and living on the streets of New Orleans.

Ted chronicles Jackie's life from his teenage years in New Orleans through college and the NFL to the end of his pro career and the untimely death of his mother--devastating events that led him into addiction and homelessness. Throughout, Ted pays tribute to the enduring friendship he shares with this man he has come to know and also look at as an inspiration. But Ted is not naïve; he speaks frankly about the vulnerability of such a relationship: Can a man like Jackie recover, or is he destined to roam the streets until his end?

Tragic and triumphant, inspiring and unexpected, You Ought to Do a Story About Me offers a rare glimpse into the precarious world of homelessness and the lingering impact of racism and poverty on the lives of NOLA's citizens. Lyrical and evocative, Ted's account is pure, singular, and ambitious--a timeless tale about loss, redemption, and hope in their multifarious forms.

"This book will melt your heart. The story of Jackie Wallace is an unforgettable tale of hope, grace, and the miracle of the human spirit. Ted Jackson writes with searing honesty and deep love for a troubled man who started as his subject and became his lifelong friend."--Jonathan Eig, bestselling author of Ali: A Life and Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig

Reviews (4)

Publisher's Weekly Review

In this raw account, Pulitzer Prize--winning photojournalist Jackson tells the story of his friend Jackie Wallace, a former NFL cornerback whose life unraveled after he retired. Jackson vividly recounts his first meeting with Wallace in the early 1990s when Wallace, who at the time was homeless and living under the Pontchartrain Expressway in New Orleans, told him, "You ought to do a story about me." Jackson then skillfully describes Wallace's sensational athletic career--he played in two Super Bowls in the 1970s--and the setbacks and tragedies he's faced, including the death of his mother, his struggles with CTE due to chronic head trauma from his time in the NFL, and heroin addiction. The narrative's strength lies in Jackson's lack of shyness in taking on the seedier parts of Wallace's life, namely his abuse of both substances and people, as outlined in tales of addiction-fueled self-destruction and domestic violence ("Jackie is not a man to be idolized or championed. He is a deeply flawed and broken man--a cautionary tale if I've ever known one"). Gut-wrenching yet hopeful, Jackson's work is a bracing look at the struggles and triumphs on the road to redemption. (Aug.)

Kirkus Review

The emotional tale of a "Super Bowl hero" who ended up homeless in his hometown of New Orleans. The story of how Jackie Wallace was lost and found--and lost and found again--is about many things, none of them simple: racism, professional sports, New Orleans, addiction, and the gaping holes in the societal safety net that even someone who was once deemed so successful can fall through. It's also about the transformational power of journalism; Jackson, a freelance photojournalist who worked for three decades for the New Orleans Times-Picayune, was profoundly changed by his work with Wallace. As Jackson's newspaper article went viral, it moved and inspired countless readers to examine their own lives--and to remain connected and get clean or stay clean. Though Wallace was by no means a household name in the NFL, he was on the roster of three teams that made the Super Bowl, and he played in two of them. His light was brighter in his native New Orleans, where he was the star quarterback on the first team from a black high school to compete against white players. At the University of Arizona, where he enrolled in 1970, his coach "didn't need another quarterback, especially a black one," so Wallace switched to cornerback and eventually became a first-team All-American--and then a second-round draft pick in the NFL. The author found him while shooting a series on homelessness; Wallace suggested, "You ought to do a story about me." The rest of the story is consistently complex and absorbing, as Jackson chronicles how Wallace cycled through rehab and relapse and a series of failed jobs and relationships. The author continued to stay in touch, more or less, before writing the follow-up story about losing Wallace, finding him again, and then losing him again. There are few easy answers here, but there are glimmers of hope. A rich and rewarding narrative about the possibilities--and the challenges--of redemption. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Booklist Review

A photojournalist for New Orleans' Times-Picayune, Jackson was scouting a homeless encampment in the summer of 1990 when he found Jackie Wallace sleeping on a makeshift bed. Friendly and authentic, the former NFL player told him he was the very story Jackson was looking for; he was right, and their connection was cemented. With a reporter's precision, Jackson here re-creates Wallace's life from its beginnings in segregated New Orleans. A gifted student and athlete, Wallace landed at the University of Arizona before being drafted into the NFL and playing in multiple Super Bowls. By the time he was 29, though, he was unceremoniously out of a job. When he met Jackson a decade later, Wallace would be homeless by choice and handling serious addiction. The 1990 story would change everything, but this is no easy before-and-after tale. From football victories to enduring injuries, valiant recovery to lost years, Jackson pieces together Wallace's story with care. Bound by faith, his biography is a painstaking portal into the human condition and how we care for one another.

Library Journal Review

A photojournalist at the New Orleans Times-Picayune who was part of a team that won the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, Jackson was snapping a picture of a homeless addict when the man said, "You ought to do a story about me." The addict turned out to be Jackie Wallace, a former NFL star who played in three Super Bowls. Jackson, who befriended Wallace, here examines Wallace's life and his tumble downward with the end of his career and his mother's death while also looking frankly at his chances for recovery. With a 100,000-copy first printing.