Wayne State University Athletics

Bob Jackson, a four-year letterman, a four-time league champion, and a two-time team captain of the Wayne State University men's tennis team, is a 2005 WSU Athletic Hall of Fame inductee. At the 1981 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) championship, Jackson won the No. 1 singles flight without losing a single set, and in the process beat two players to whom he had lost during the regular season. He was the last WSU men's tennis player to claim the league's No. 1 singles title. In addition to serving as team captain for the second consecutive year, he compiled a 15-4 singles record and had a 13-4 doubles mark with partner Mike Kneale. The Lincoln Park native made an immediate impact his freshman year in 1978, winning the GLIAC championship at No. 4 singles and helping the Tartars to their first of three GLIAC titles during his collegiate career. Jackson compiled an 18-3 mark in his singles play and teamed with Gerhardt Schubert for a 15-6 mark at second doubles. WSU went 14-3 overall in 1978. The following year the squad placed second in the GLIAC with Jackson earning a runner-up finish at No. 2 singles and a championship at second doubles (with Mike Kneale). Jackson and Kneale shared the team Most Valuable Player honors for doubles. Jackson and Kneale won the second doubles championship again in 1980 and also shared the team MVP honors for doubles as well. Jackson was named the WSU Male Scholar Athlete of the Year in 1980. He had a Merit scholarship for all four of his years at WSU. He graduated from WSU in 1981 with a bachelor's degree in criminal justice, with high distinction. Jackson also graduated from the University of Michigan Law School, magna cum laude, in 1984. After law school, Jackson clerked for a federal appeals court judge and later joined the law firm of Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP in Detroit, where he has been a partner since 1990. Jackson specializes in civil trial work. He is married to Debbie Hamel and they live in Rochester, with their two children, Samantha (10) and Tyler (9).