By: Kelsey Burr

ORLANDO, Fla. — 18-year-old Deven Jackson, from Pennsylvania, is a wrestling powerhouse. He went 12-0 at the 2022 AAU Scholastic Duals in Orlando. He’s a two-time state medalist. He also happens to be a survivor of bacterial meningitis.


 
He was just eight years old when he contracted the infection, which led to the amputation of both of his legs. Doctors thought he only had a 10 percent chance to survive – but survive, he did. Jackson wasn’t going down without a fight, but he did have new challenges to overcome.
 
“I had to learn how to walk again. I had to get prosthetic legs. It just changed a lot,” Jackson said. “It took football away from me. I was really fast and just loved playing outside. Then I had to lose my legs, and I was in a wheelchair. I really didn’t know what to do… didn’t know what sport I was going to do.”
 
That’s when Jackson’s teacher suggested wrestling. Her son wrestled, and she thought Jackson should give it a try. Now, Jackson brings his fighting spirit to the wrestling mat.
 
His career started a little rocky – “I didn’t really get into it in elementary. I was bad, I had like the worst record” – but during his eighth and ninth grade years, he really started to put the work in, joining club teams and training with a local wrestling coach.
 
“Then my sophomore year, I went to J Robinson’s 28-Day Intensive Camp in Wisconsin and that pushed me really hard. We had to do a 12-mile run – I ran half of it and then did a lot in my wheelchair,” Jackson said.
 
The J Robinson 28-Day Intensive Camp was known as the most challenging athletic camp in the country for more than four decades. The camp’s philosophy focused on physical preparation, life skills development, and mental toughness – and if anyone is mentally tough, it’s Jackson. He ended up getting fourth at State that year, and placed fourth again this year as a senior.


 
“You have to put the work in, and you’ll see the outcome. You’ve got to be going to practices every day, putting 100 percent into it, finding good partners,” Jackson said. “I try to find the best partner in the room and wrestle with them because I know he’s going to make me better, and he’s going to show my flaws.”
 
Jackson practices what he preaches. He would have wrestling practice Mondays and Wednesdays, and then would weightlift Tuesday, Thursday, and some Saturdays.
 
“I just like to show it out on the mat. I like to go out on the mat and they’re like ‘wow this kid’s wrestling me, he puts all this work in, I probably should put this work in too because I can see the outcome.’ I have to do double the work than some of the kids have to do.”


 
Jackson and his team, PECO Boys, placed sixth this year during the AAU Scholastic Duals – a bittersweet moment, as this was Jackson’s last tournament of his high school career.
 
But Jackson’s wrestling journey is far from over. He will be wrestling at Elizabethtown College, a Division III school in Pennsylvania, this fall. His goal? To win an NCAA Championship.