On Monday, Oct. 21, Pizza with the Pros welcomed Philadelphia Flyers TV play-by-play broadcaster Jim Jackson.

Jackson grew up in Upstate New York, and ever since he was a kid, he had a passion for sports. However, Jackson realized at a young age that he wasn’t good enough to become a professional athlete. He still wanted to be involved in sports for his profession, so he had to find a different way.

According to his father, Jackson was always talking while sports were on television. When trying to discover a new passion in sports, Jackson credits his father for helping him find it.

“My father said I was talking while the games were on all the time, how about broadcasting,” Jackson said. “I said that’s probably a good idea, so since the time I was about thirteen it became my dream.”

Jackson’s dream school growing up was Syracuse University, which is one of the top sports broadcasting schools in the country. The school isn’t easy to get into though, so Jackson worked hard to get his grades up before he graduated high school. This resulted in him getting into the school and one step closer to living his dream.

When he first got accepted into the school, Jackson had low standards. If Jackson landed a job as the sports director for WIBX in Utica, he would’ve been satisfied. However, only two or three weeks into his freshman year at Syracuse, his standards changed. Being around other sports broadcasters pushed Jackson to want to accomplish big things in his career, with his new standard being the president of CBS Sports.

“It motivated me, gave me ambition, gave me the desire to work to try to get to where I was calling a major sport in a major city,” Jackson said.

At Syracuse, Jackson worked football, basketball, and lacrosse games, doing sportscasts, newscasts, talk shows, television, radio, and whatever else he could get his hands on.

After graduating from Syracuse, Jackson had nothing to do. Back then, there were no online websites that you could easily apply to. Instead, you had to look at the bottom of newspapers to see job openings.

Jackson’s first job opportunity came with WIBX, where he didn’t work an actual position, but instead just got coffee for the people working there. He wanted any chance he could to get experience, even if it meant just watching other people working.

Just by being around, Jackson got his opportunity to work at the station. When someone called out sick, they asked him to take his spot for the time being. Jackson did a good enough job that when WIBX found an opportunity to do a weekend talk show, they chose him to do it, making him a full-time employee.

Six months later, Jackson became the sports director for Birmingham, and nine months after that, Jackson began his professional sports broadcasting career with the Utica Devils. Jackson was successful working in the AHL with the Devils for six years, so much so that he got an offer to be the voice of the Philadelphia Flyers.

For two seasons Jackson was the radio announcer, but ever since then, he has been the play-by-play announcer for the Flyers on Television for 31 seasons, now covering the games on NBC Sports Philadelphia. Jackson was also a member of the Philadelphia Phillies radio broadcast team from 2007-2020, hosting the pre and post-game shows, adding play-by-play responsibilities in 2010.

Jackson has had an extremely successful career in Sports Broadcasting. He is a six-time Mid-Atlantic Emmy Award winner and former Pennsylvania Broadcaster of the Year by the National Sportscasters & Sportswriters Association.

Next week, Pizza with the Pros will be welcoming ESPN College Basketball Analyst Jon Crispin.

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