Building a Better Omaha: CWS ticketholder starts foundation honoring late mother

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - Players don’t have a monopoly on College World Series memories. Fans carry moments too.

“It’s like spring break for two weeks in Omaha, Nebraska, with baseball,” said Corey Jackson. “We got married here on opening night.”

Corey and his wife Melissa started their life together at the ballpark.

“I’ve missed eight games since 1993.”

Corey lost his father in 1983. They had just gotten season tickets to Rosenblatt.

“This became a pilgrimage for my mother and myself,” he said.

It didn’t last long. Three years later, cancer took his mother -- a 16-year-old missing his parents.

“One of the toughest moments of my entire life was that next year when my mom wasn’t going to be there,” he said. “First year going back and telling people I lost my mother.”

For years, Seats 13 and 14 in Section P, Row 8, had an emptiness -- Corey in one seat, no one but his bag occupying the other -- until he met Melissa.

“It was full circle,” she said. “It couldn’t have been any other way.”

Years ago, Corey met someone who also no longer had living parents. It made him think: What if I honor my mother Jean by starting a foundation with the goal to help other children who have lost a parent and share the connection with the CWS?

“If you’re the person who’s been to the CWS your whole life and then to have someone else come, it’s pretty cool because you want to share the moment with someone else too.”

11-year-old GG from Texas is the first recipient of the Jean Jackson Foundation -- an all-expenses-paid trip to the CWS championships. It wasn’t just baseball; GG and her mother soaked up the Omaha Zoo, checked out the Omaha Police Department’s Mounted Patrol Unit, and played whiffle ball at what’s left of Rosenblatt Stadium. GG’s father passed last year.

“It’s always weird to go back there because I have so many of my best memories there,” Corey said. “To say the stars aligned is an understatement. I would never have thought a player’s son or daughter would be the first to come up.”

GG’s father, Jeff Ontiveros, played college baseball. In fact, he played more games for the Texas Longhorns than anyone else. His team won the 2002 National Championship at Rosenblatt Stadium.

“It’s been very special to be in places where he’s been. That meant so much to him, I can see that part of his life.”

Emily met Jeff after his baseball days. GG has only heard stories.

“After the game, I felt him with me,” GG said.

“Last night she laughed and had so much fun,” Emily said. “So much laughter, and it doesn’t always come easy for us.”

As for Corey Jackson -- this week felt like old times.

“I’ve made that walk by myself a lot, and to make this walk with my wife and this family meant everything.”

Being from the Austin, Texas, area and her father being a Longhorn, GG refused to root for Texas A&M. The icing on the cake for her: Tennessee won the CWS.

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