Villanova’s emcee, James Jackson, or better known as Jimmy J., sat in the stands at the Wells Fargo Center like any other fan on Dec. 21, 2019. He was one of the fans who made up the sold-out crowd of 20,706 as No. 18 Villanova took on No. 1 Kansas.
The crowd was energized, Wells Fargo Center was loud and, like every Villanova home game, there was a “Fan of the Game.”
Jackson happened to be the lucky one. Within minutes, Jackson was projected on the jumbotron alongside former Villanova in-arena announcer Theo Williams, who rallied the crowd beside him.
“I’m like, ‘I’m going to be on the Jumbotron,’” Jackson said. “I’m making the most of my 15 seconds, man. Someone’s going to remember me from this.”
With his Villanova gear on, Jackson pumped up the crowd, making sure to get every second’s worth of his time.
“So, I’m doing my whole thing,” Jackson said. “I’m telling everyone to stand up, get loud. I’m doing a Nova Nation chant and everything. And Theo [Williams] is, like, ‘Hey, you were pretty good up there, man. Have you ever thought about doing something like this?’”
Little did Williams know, that exchange would end up butterflying into a new era at the Finneran Pavilion. To Nova Nation, Jackson was just a random fan of Villanova Basketball.
Now, Jackson has become a face of Villanova Basketball. It does not matter if a fan knows anything about basketball. They still know who he is. From tossing t-shirts into the crowd or running around the upper level of the Finneran Pavilion, Jackson always has a presence from start to finish of every game.
“I attack a game day kind of like a player does,” Jackson said. “Like, I am observing a lot of pregame. Where am I going to go? There’s a lot of strategy that goes into it for me because I don’t want to be doing the same things game in, game out.”
Where it All Began
Jackson’s love for entertaining goes back to his high school days. Born in Phoenixville, PA, he is no stranger to the culture of the area. He was the outgoing kid every person had in their high school classes. His grades were good, but his report card always came with a “He is talkative” comment. But that is Jackson to his core.
“I feel like I was just always an outgoing kid,” Jackson said. “If I could make a group of people laugh, feel entertained or something, that kind of warmed my heart and made me feel like I was doing something good for other people.”
Jackson’s voice was the staple of his team’s pregame huddles, whether that was football, basketball or baseball. He generated hype.
During his freshman year of high school, Jackson had a friend whose father was a DJ for a local Philadelphia radio station, Q102. It was fascinating to Jackson.
“My friend would throw parties, and his dad would be in the garage DJing,” Jackson said. “I’d look at him, and I’d be, like, ‘We’re all having fun because of him.’ Every time a song changes, every time he scratches a record, everyone kind of reacts. I loved that he wasn’t just a part of it. He was controlling it. He was the reason why [people were having fun].”
Jackson soon received a set of turntables for Christmas from his father. Every chance he had to use them, he took it. From his junior prom to big parties, Jackson donned his DJ-branded hat every time he took his place in front of a crowd.
“I wanted to be in control of the party,” Jackson said. “So, I was okay with not being in the midst of it, but being the vibe setter, the tone setter and everything like that. And then that’s when I realized that I always want to be in front of a crowd.”
That was when it all clicked, he had found his calling. Jackson pursued his passions at West Chester University, graduating with a degree in communication and media studies. Despite being a West Chester alumnus, Jackson has always had a love for Villanova, especially Villanova basketball.
The Audition
Two years after becoming the “Fan of the Game,” Jackson got a career-altering call: Williams was moving on from his role as Villanova’s emcee, and wanted to recommend Jackson to take his place.
Jackson was a part of a highly-competitive set of applicants. Despite the massive amount of interest in the job, Jackson made it to the final three candidates.
Associate Athletic Director for Marketing and Digital Strategy Jake Whitten told Jackson that the final part of the audition process would be inside the Finneran Pavilion. The goal was to simulate a full game experience for the remaining candidates. But Whitten didn’t mention that the Finn was going to be empty.
“I walk in, it’s an empty gym, there’s five people in there,” Jackson said. “I thought I was going to have the ability to address the crowd. It makes it a little more awkward when there’s, like, five people sitting at the scores table, and you have to act like you’re doing it to a whole crowd.”
With no one to interact with and nothing to hype up, Jackson was left to create the hype himself.
“I’m just going to have to fake the game,” Jackson said. “I’m going to imagine six thousand people in these seats and they might think I’m crazy. I’m going to talk to the empty seats in the crowd.”
Jackson ran around the Finn buzzing with energy. He called for a round of applause and waited as if fans were applauding. After Jackson’s audition, Whitten recalls a “unanimous decision” that he was a perfect fit for the job.
The Call
Jackson left the audition and went about his job working in the shoe department at Dick’s Sporting Goods in the King of Prussia Mall. On Nov. 6, 2021, three days before the first game of the 2021-22 Villanova Basketball season, Jackson got the call he had been impatiently hoping he would receive.
“My phone starts vibrating in my pocket, and I just check it, and it’s Jake Whitten,” Jackson said. “I looked at my manager, I told him I had to take this phone call. I was like, ‘You can fire me right now. I have to go take this phone call.’”
When Jackson found out that he would be the next emcee of Villanova basketball, he ran through the aisles at Dick’s with the exhilaration of someone who had “just won the lottery.”
“If one thing doesn’t go right in this whole sequence, I may not be here,” Jackson said. “It’s like the butterfly effect. It really is.”
The Energy Source
Jackson has the job of creating an energetic environment around the games. It is not a job he takes lightly. He is always willing to put in extra hours to make the Finn or the Wells Fargo Center the best fan environment in the country.
The action on the court is not always going to provide energy for the crowd to feed off of. Jackson was fortunate enough to have his first season as emcee the same season the Villanova men’s team went to the Final Four in 2022. Nowadays, Jackson has found ways to pump up a crowd even if the team is not doing well on the court.
“I just have to be ultra-dialed into those games because as soon as there’s an opportunity to bring some momentum our way or to get the crowd up, I’m ready to go,” Jackson said.
It is difficult to get people energized when there is nothing to be excited about. Jackson has the ability to do that. He is able to find hype where there is none.
“For example, if I can get a fan to do something really hype in one of those contests and kind of eject some energy into the arena, then all of a sudden, the players are in the huddle and they hear a crowd pop,” Jackson said. “And then all of a sudden now the crowd’s kind of back into it. There’s a jolt of energy back in the stadium.”
“[Jackson] is a first-class person all around,” Whitten said. “We view him as a valuable member of our team. Outside of game day, he’s always willing to jump on extra calls to make sure we’re in a good spot. He’s outgoing, energetic and always comes prepared. He’s the total package.”
Jackson makes each fan of any Villanova game feel like they are a part of it. He notices what parts of the crowd have the most energy and where he needs to build energy all while watching the game on the court.
“I think what makes him great too is that we provide him with all the information for a game, but then he has this great ability to make it his own,” Whitten said. “He’s able to take that information, make it his own and add a great Villanova feel to it. He has the ability to ad-lib and adjust on the fly. He just does a tremendous job.”
Jackson returned to the place where his Villanova emcee career all began, the Wells Fargo Center, this past Sunday, Feb. 9. Now, though, he is not just a voice in Nova Nation, he is the voice of Nova Nation.
