Racer football legends Clayton, Jackson have jerseys retired

When it comes to legendary figures in Murray State athletics history, Don Clayton and Dennis Jackson are like royalty.
 
On Saturday at the season's final MSU football game, Clayton's jersey number 21 and Jackson's 25 and the men that wore them, were in the spotlight at Roy Stewart Stadium. Clayton was inducted into the Murray State Hall of Fame in 1981 and Jackson in 2007.
 
Don Clayton, an All-America running back from 1971-74, still holds the Racers' career rushing mark coming up on 50 years since he set it.

Out of Malden, Missouri, Clayton was recruited by teams from Power-5 conferences, but had Murray State at the top of his list.
 
"Murray State started early with me and that's because I had friends from back home that attended MSU," said Clayton, whose career spanned the end of Cutchin Stadium and the opening of Roy Stewart Stadium in 1973.

"I went to some football games at Murray and I got to the point where I wanted to be a Racer. Once Coach Bill Furgerson began recruiting me, Murray State just felt right. As for being a Racer still today? It means everything to me. To be connected to my alma mater in this manner with the hall of fame and now my number, it's just amazing."
 
Dennis Jackson's contributions to Murray State University are many. He was a career teacher and administrator in the Paducah school system and for many years was one of the top high school basketball officials in Kentucky, having worked multiple Sweet 16 tournament games.
 
From Murray and coming out of Douglass High School, Jackson became the first black student-athlete at Murray State in 1960.

Jackson's groundbreaking collegiate football and track & field career (1961-64) for the Racers included All-Ohio Valley Conference honors in both sports.
 
Jackson's name was put on the "Dennis Jackson Racer Room" inside Stewart Stadium as one of the main hubs of athletics activities in the department.
 
"This is amazing and I was just thinking about those days when I was a little kid, my friends and I would sneak into Cutchin Stadium to watch the Racers play," Jackson said.

"Being a Racer is indescribable to me. From the start, the people from Murray have been so good to me. I am a Racer and I am a Racer for life."
 
There are now four Murray State football jerseys retired.