The Hungry Hungry Writer

Peoria man, 47, was training near Princeville for triathlon

BY ANGELA GREEN
OF THE JOURNAL STAR

PRINCEVILLE - A 47-year-old Peoria man training for a triathlon was killed Tuesday as he biked on a stretch of Illinois Route 90 near Princeville.

Jesse E. “Jay” Jackson, 2401 Alta Road, Apt. 102, was headed east on Route 90 a half-mile east of Feuct Road just after noon when he was struck from behind by a minivan that blew a tire.

“He was already signed up to be in the triathlon,” his mother, Dot Jordan, said tearfully from her Peoria home Tuesday night. “He already had his airline tickets to go.”

Jackson was training for the Disney Triathlon in May, and his family, including his mother and two young children, was looking forward to going and cheering him on.

News of the fatal accident ravaged the family.

“But Daddy’s my best friend,” a confused 8-year-old Jesse III told his grandma after the coroner had visited. “Does he have a pulse at all? Is he breathing.”

The driver of the van told sheriff’s deputies he was traveling east and saw Jackson in his lane ahead of him, hugging the shoulder of the road.

The driver, whose name was not released, veered toward the center line to give the bicycle more space, then reportedly felt a tire blow out. He lost control of the vehicle and it struck Jackson.

Jackson was pronounced dead at the scene, Peoria County Coroner Johnna Ingersoll said. An autopsy is scheduled for Thursday.

The minivan driver was ticketed for failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident.

Jackson, a car salesman, had the day off Tuesday and had swam at the RiverPlex that morning.

He called his mother just before he left for his bike ride.

“He said, ‘Mom, I’ll be in touch by 1.’ He was supposed to call,” Jordan recounted. “I knew something was not right. He always calls.”

Unnerved, she picked up her grandchildren, Jesse III, 8, and Shannon, 6, from school.

“Something is not right,” she thought. “It’s 3, it’s 4, it’s 4:30.”

Jackson and his family moved to Peoria about four years ago. He and his wife divorced, but Jackson and his mother, Baton Rouge, La., natives, stayed.

He really got into fitness just a couple of years ago, Jordan said.

“He had it all together. My goodness, he started training a couple years ago. Jay loved triathlons. He said, ‘Mom, some of these young people are swim coaches for Bradley. I’m 47 years old.’