The Making of a Servant Leader

Tyrone also likes to share the story of Mary Hagan, his sixth-grade teacher at Dawson Elementary. The year was 1970 and officials had started the challenging process of integrating the schools in Jackson. Hagan, a white teacher, joined four white students to integrate all-black Dawson. Hagan displayed such courage as she entered the school each day in the face of adversity and jeers from those in her community who wanted to impede progress. On her last day as their teacher, Hagan left her students with a poem entitled “What Is Love?” She shared in her poem that Love is when one of her students comes to visit. Nearly 40 years later, Tyrone reconnected with Hagan and they both shared their story with more than 500 educators at the Teacher of the Year Dinner in her hometown of Baton Rouge, Mississippi. They also returned back to Dawson Elementary to share their “Root to Fruit” story with students and teachers.

Mary Hagan wasn’t the only teacher to leave a lasting impression on Tyrone. His high school football coach at Callaway H.S., Odell Jenkins, also saw something special in him. He said every artist has a masterpiece and he described Tyrone as his masterpiece. Not only did he make sure Tyrone played his best on the field (his team won the 1975 State Championship with a record-breaking 22 consecutive wins) but he held him accountable, making sure he understood the meaning of being a champion on and off the field. Tyrone would go on to win several national awards such as the NAHRO for his work with kids who grew up in and around Public Housing and the Tampa Tribune Man of the Year. He was also recognized in 2002 by the White House with USA Freedom Corp for his Service to the United States.

Tyrone credits Jenkins with helping him craft a vision of mentorship that led to his most trusted mantra: Root to Fruit. He told Tyrone his success meant nothing if he didn’t return to help someone else. “I knew what he meant,” Tyrone says, “because he always wanted me to understand that I had a duty to help my fellow teammates who were overlooked by college recruiters.” Jenkins has joined Tyrone and his family on several momentous occasions, including his induction into the Mississippi State Education Hall of Fame, the Mississippi State Sports Hall of Fame and his acceptance of the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018. In 2006, Jenkins and Tyrone took kids from Jackson, MS, and Tampa, FL to the JC Watts Leadership Conference and had a White House visit, including when his Chicago Bears reunited twenty-five years after they won Super Bowl XX. In fact, Tyrone, Jenkins and ASCS alumnus Ricky Sailor teamed to share their “root to fruit” journey with the University of Oregon School of Education. They spoke passionately about the motto they embrace: Each One, Reach One, Teach One.

Tyrone credits his servant heart and character development to a strong family foundation. “My mom was a typing and business ed teacher at Rowan High School which was located next to Brown Elementary,” Tyrone said. “After school, I would sit in her classroom and watch her teach.”

Four years ago, he met with Mrs. Mary Collins who believed in Tyrone’s mom and sowed into her with scholarship funds making his mom the first in the history of the Jordan family by providing her with a scholarship to attend Alcorn State college the same college she had attended and graduated from. When Tyrone met Mrs. Collins, the “Root” was 100 years old. While sitting there, she was smiling from ear to ear when he shared with her and thank her for the seeds that she had sowed to help his mom has continued and he share pictures of the 1st generational college students he had assisted and they have returned to help yet another generation. He was sharing with Mrs. Collins the “Orchard” that had produced.

Back then he thought he’d never use typing but it has proved indispensable. He knew one day he would also teach. Tyrone grew up with teachers all around in his community. Nine of those teachers eventually became principals. He had aunts and uncles who were outstanding teachers.

Even though Tyrone’s parents separated when he was ten years old, they both remained great examples of love for him and his brothers, He recalls a historic moment when his parents took in white college students from up north who came to Mississippi to help register black voters it was known as the 1964 Freedom Summer project -these efforts created political momentum for the Voting Rights Act of 1965.and left an impression on him and his brothers who grew up to become counselors. To this day his brothers will go beyond the call of duty for their clients.

They visited their dad often in Shady Grove in the community of Hoy Green Acres outside of Laurel, Miss., where their grandparents lived on a farm. Tyrone’s mom’s parents lived about ten miles from them on an 80-acre farm. They would visit in the spring and watch their grandparents plow the ground and plant seeds in the field. By summer they would find themselves enjoying all the greens, squash, peas, okra, and watermelon their little stomachs could hold. They ate fresh food every day and played sports all day.

When Tyrone had returned after summer visits, his size, work ethic, and heart grew in stature. He had witnessed his grandparents work as a team. They got up each morning and worked the raw land together. When he was with them, he didn’t have a worry in the world. All he did was eat, sleep, play with cousins and go to church on Sundays. They all ate even more during the Sunday feasts after church. Parents, grandparents, teachers and aunts and uncles always encouraged Tyrone. They planted seeds of love and compassion. Most of all, they believed in him, and Tyrone will be the first to say you can’t put a price tag on that faith they held for his future.