Earning Her Stripes Chicago Mother Of Four Goes To The Mat To Officiate A Sport She Loves

Janice Jackson always liked to be around wrestlers.

When she was a student at Rich Central High in Illinois, she attended meets regularly with friends whose brothers were on the wrestling team.

“I got into it in high school; I really liked it,” she recalled, and then added, laughing, “And besides, the wrestlers were cute.”

Jackson went on to marry a wrestling official. She has four children, all of whom wrestle.

So it probably shouldn’t be a big surprise she eventually got on the mat herself. She started officiating wrestling matches a decade ago and is now the only woman working high school meets in Illinois.

Jackson became a referee almost by accident. She accompanied her then-husband, Dave Jackson, to meets so often a coach finally said she ought to try officiating herself.

“He said I was there all the time, so I should get paid,” she said. “I thought that wouldn’t be a bad idea.

“I really liked the sport and … thought it would be fun to be more involved in it.”

Jackson registered with the Illinois High School Association, passed a test and started working freshman matches in the suburbs south of Chicago in late 1985, with Dave assisting her.

The following season, she started doing lower-level high school meets on her own in Indiana and Illinois. Four years ago, she started officiating varsity matches.

Finding a woman in a male-dominated sport is not the startling news it used to be, but Jackson produced her share of double-takes in her early years as an official.

She remembers the times she’d walk into a gym and hear the crowd grow quiet, and the time a coach realized he was getting a woman ref and blurted out, “Oh, (bleep).”

She remembers the time a wrestler asked her out. And she definitely remembers her most embarrassing moment, the time she tripped over a corner of the mat and wound up in a coach’s lap. “The whole place roared,” she said.

By now, she’s such a familiar face in south suburban wrestling circles her presence usually seems to stimulate comment only from athletes seeing her for the first time. But even in those early days, Jackson, 39, never felt like she didn’t belong.

“I had always gotten along well in that world,” she said. “I never felt uncomfortable or out of place or like I wasn’t accepted, and if there were any problems or prejudices about it, I was not made aware of it.

“Everyone has been real good. They don’t treat me any differently. If they don’t like a call, they say so.”

“I’ve never had a problem with her in terms of technique or the way she handles herself on the mat,” said Crete-Monee coach Rod Wartman. “She not only knows the rules and wrestling, but she handles situations well with the kids and the coaches.

“In the beginning, there was some question if she could make the calls, but she earned her stripes to be in that arena… . She’s done the job.”

It’s not an easy job. In a recent meet involving Crete-Monee, Hubbard and host Illiana Christian, Jackson got to the gym at 5 p.m. The meet ended at 9:10 p.m.

In that time, she worked 31 matches with only a couple of breaks. As she circled the wrestlers, whistle in mouth, or scooted backward on her knees, face to the mat to check for a possible pin, it was easy to see why she works out to stay in shape.

At 5 feet, 120 pounds, Jackson seemed to shrink as the matches progressed from the 103-pounders to the 189-pounders and heavyweights who towered over her.

On two occasions, she narrowly avoided flying feet, which explains how she once incurred a broken nose.

She enjoys interacting with the wrestlers, some of whom she has known since they were in kids meets. To them, she is just another official.

“She’s a good ref; she knows what she’s doing,” said Crete-Monee junior Josh Reading, recalling the time Jackson made a teammate shave and trim his nails to conform with the rules. “She’s not timid with the coaches or kids. She stands her ground.”

Jackson earned $75 for the triangular meet, enough to help the family budget but not reason enough to officiate unless you like it.

“Some nights it’s easy money; some they can’t pay you enough,” she said, laughing. “I really don’t do it for the money.”

Her day had begun at 6 a.m. when she awoke to prepare for her job as a veterinary technician. She worked from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., then cooked and cleaned before dropping her Red Blazer (the plates read LADY REF) at Rich Central so her oldest son could make sure all the kids got to or from their wrestling practices.

She got a ride to Illiana Christian from a friend and a lift home from another official, got her two youngest children to bed and did her grocery shopping before getting to sleep herself at midnight.

Until recently, Jackson worked nights and weekends, which limited her to a dozen meets a month, plus a kids’ federation event each Sunday. Thanks to a change in hours, she may step up her schedule, though probably not to the point she was at two years ago when she worked 29 meets in 31 days.

As a divorced mother of boys 17, 14, 11 and 8, Jackson has a tough enough schedule as it is. The oldest two, Matthew and Brendan Smith, wrestle at Rich Central; the two youngest, Ryan Smith and Tim Jackson, compete for a local wrestling club.

When she isn’t officiating, Jackson is likely to be at her sons’ matches. She has even worked their meets, calling a decisive penalty point against Brendan a few years ago.

Jackson admits to being somewhat of a frustrated wrestler and a bit envious of the handful of high school females who wrestle..

“I really like to watch from the vantage point of an official,” said Jackson, who did not compete in sports in high school. “Since I can’t wrestle and I can’t coach, it’s a good way to be involved in it.”

Jackson, one of only a half-dozen women nationwide who officiate high school matches, said she’d like to give college wrestling a try and wants to work the state high school finals before hanging up her whistle.

“I guess I’ll keep doing it until I don’t like it anymore or I’m too old to move,” she said.

“I do love it. I really do.”