The longtime martial-artist who moved out west to start anew three years ago was coming back to Columbus, for one glorious day, to claim the rank that he had worked so hard to attain - that of Master.

But he still had to perform.

And with hundreds watching the final Taekwondo test of the year at the famed Oriental Martial Arts College, Jackson wowed the crowd with his energetic forms, his skillful sparring and powerful breaking of boards and bricks with his bare hands and feet.

"People were saying I did pretty good," a tired but jubilant Jackson said after the test. "I think I did all right. There are some things I think I could've done better. I guess I'm the hardest on myself."

With the physical test behind him, Jackson officially was inducted into the Master's Committee during the traditional Injee ceremony, allowing all the black belts in attendance to thump in him in the chest five times each.

The 5th Dan black belt now is on a mission to take his training to even new heights.

His immediate goal is to open his own commercial school to teach Taekwondo and other disciplines in Las Vegas, where he now lives. The recreation centers where he currently teaches limits his class time to two hours a week.

Having a good place to train has been central to Jackson's road to Taekwondo excellence, a road that has been filled with dreams, success and hard work.

Jackson started his martial-arts training in 1975 at a small school in Cleveland, where he quickly caught on to how to spar effectively. Still, he felt unfulfilled.

"I was beating everything that was walking," Jackson said. "I thought, there must be something more to this than punching and kicking."

He eventually ran into Master James Cahn, 6th Dan black belt and an attorney who was teaching Moogong-ryu Martial Arts (OMAC system) in Cleveland.

Jackson prepared the fliers that eventually caught the attention of prospective students seeking self-defense techniques and confidence.

But with Jackson winning so many tournaments, he soon became serious about training for the Olympics. In 1986, he decided to move to Columbus to work directly with Choi, a 9th degree black belt who in his youth trained in Korea under Supreme Grand Master Byung Jick Ro, who is considered the father of modern Taekwondo.

Jackson knew that he was facing his best opportunity to excel and was ready to do anything for Choi, who had coached a number of other athletes to world-class stardom.

"I slept in the school, I washed his car on the weekends," Jackson said. "I was the true Karate Kid."

To help him financially, the company where he worked as an electrician agreed to sponsor him.

"It was like a dream come true," he said.

Jackson quickly learned how Choi himself was so great - discipline, hard work, attention to details.

"I remember one time I asked him to show me how to improve my back kick," Jackson recalled. "He had me practice that one technique 2 hours after practice. I was sore, but it worked though. He's really dedicated."

Jackson continued to win championships. As a featherweight and later a light-middleweight competitor, Jackson won the state championship in Ohio five times, won the bronze medal in the national championships and won the silver in an international championship held in Mexico. He was invited to workout and spar at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.

Despite his efforts, he came up short of making the U.S. Olympic team, but the experience prepared him for the journey that lay ahead.

In 1999, he decided to give up his job, pack up his stuff and move to California.

"I felt I had to go somewhere and make my own way," Jackson said. "If you're not changing or growing, you're not doing anything worthwhile. You're just existing like a plant. You've got to reach for something."

He found work, but he was poor. The fasting and meditation that he was accustomed to in his martial-arts training were becoming more significant.

Jackson decided to move to Las Vegas to start teaching Taekwondo, but he soon ran into obstacles trying to find a place to hold class.

"I went to every rec center to try to get in there and they were locked solid," Jackson said.

He finally got permission to hold classes in two recreation centers in nearby Henderson, Nevada.

He scheduled his first day of classes for Sept. 11, 2001, not knowing that day would turn out to be one of the most infamous in American history.

With terrorists having hijacked planes and crashed them into the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon, no one knew what would happen next.

"Everybody was scared," Jackson said. "I was afraid to go out myself, but I felt I had an obligation to my students."

Thus, he held class, and six students showed that day. To his frightened students, the training seemed to be a source of empowerment. The pupils quickly felt a strong connection with Jackson. By word of mouth, several students started flocking to his class.

Today, Jackson has more than 50 students, including four from the original group.

His highest ranking students are purple belts, and Jackson is determined to help them and their juniors reach the level of black belt and beyond.

Meanwhile, Jackson has developed his own system, Snake Boxing, which is choreographed fighting that is to be performed at combat speed.

"These are two-man forms that require reaction," Jackson said. "Reaction time is delegated by the person you're fighting. I've got 10 Movements of the Snake. They're doing it at tournaments."

His perspective in the martial arts continues to evolve.

"I'm looking at it, not as a competitor, but as a teacher," Jackson said. "It's beyond the trophy stage. I don't have to worry about the Olympics any more, but I will do what I can to help my kids (in class) reach those goals if that's what they want to do."

But the training does much more for the children than teach them how to defend themselves from attackers.

"I've seen kids, bad kids, ones suspended from school, hitting their parents, hollering and cussing, just real bad attitudes," Jackson said. After training with him for a few weeks, "Now they're saying 'Yes, sir, no sir.' They're getting better grades in school. I have parents come up to me all the time and say how much their children have changed since coming to class."

No matter how much knowledge he acquires, though, Jackson always enters a situation with beginner's mind, believing he can learn more.

"If you open your mind and listen, someone, somewhere, can teach you something," Jackson said.

 Kirk Richards