You Ought to Do a Story about Me

About this book

"The heartbreaking, timeless, and redemptive story of the transformative friendship binding a fallen-from-grace NFL player and a Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist who meet on the streets of New Orleans, offering a rare glimpse into the precarious world of homelessness and the lingering impact of systemic racism and poverty on the lives of NOLA's citizens"-- In 1990, while covering a story about homelessness, Jackson encountered a drug addict sleeping under a bridge. The homeless stranger looked the photojournalist in the eye and said, "You ought to do a story about me." When Jackson asked why, he was stunned by the answer. "Because I've played in three Super Bowls." Jackie Wallace was a former NFL star who rose to the pinnacle of fame and fortune, only to crash and lose it all. Here Jackson describes the details of how Wallace spiraled into addiction and homelessness-- and of the thirty-year relationship the two developed. -- adapted from jacket