Local high school coach and teacher dies after suffering COVID-19 complications
Dreher High School has lost a member of its academic and athletic community, officials said Monday.
Damien Jackson, who taught junior and senior level math, coached the girls’ track and field team and served as the offensive coordinator for the football team, died after being hospitalized for COVID-19 complications, Principal Kevin Hasinger said in a message to parents.
Hasinger said Jackson’s “positive attitude and love for Dreher will be sorely missed.”
“While Mr. Jackson’s death is a shock to everyone, young people will react in different ways to the death of one of their teachers,” Hasinger said. “We expect that there will be a variety of emotions and responses to what has occurred. The most important thing we can do is to be supportive and encourage an open expression of feelings.”
The Richland 1 school district has sent a “crisis team” to the school to help teachers suffering from the death of a co-worker, Hasinger said.
Jackson, 42, was a popular figure at Dreher and across the Columbia sports community. The Dreher athletics department posted a message on Jackson’s death. The Dreher girls soccer team announced they are dedicating Monday’s match against AC Flora in Jackson’s honor.
“Words (cannot) express our heartbreak,” Dreher High Athletics tweeted Monday afternoon. “Please pray for his family during this difficult time.”
Words of support poured in on social media from other area coaches and officials, such as AC Flora head football coach Dustin Curtis and neighboring Richland 2 Superintendent Baron Davis.
“@ACFloraFootball is with Dreher in our hearts today. Coach Jackson will be missed,” Curtis tweeted.
“@RichlandTwo family (is) keeping the Jackson family, @DreherHigh and @RichlandOne family in our thoughts and prayers,” Davis tweeted.
Jackson was a member of Dreher’s 1993 playoff football team and went on to play at Presbyterian. After graduating PC, he coached at AC Flora and Lower Richland before returning to his alma mater in 2010. Dreher football coach Treigh Sullivan was an assistant with Jackson under Josh Stepp. Jackson remained on staff when Sullivan got the head coaching job in 2013.
Sullivan called Jackson “the definition of a servant leader” that cared for and loved his players. The two shared countless hours together on the road at clinics. Both loved staying up late so Sullivan said the two would text each other late night when they would either be watching game film or a sporting event.
“He was Dreher High School through and through,” Sullivan said. “Players and coaches have come in gone but coach Jackson has been one constant in my professional life. I admired him for so many things but he always tried to find the good in people. He had such a huge heart for kids and did it for the right reasons.
“He was just special and everything you want in a coach and person.”
A GoFundMe page has been started to help Jackson’s family, which includes wife LaToya and 8-year-old son Tyler and 4-year-old son Christian at https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-for-the-family-of-damien-jackson
This story was originally published March 29, 2021 at 4:44 PM.