FORT BENNING, Ga., (Nov.18 2015) -- Atlanta Braves pitcher Edwin Jackson hosted his seventh annual baseball clinic Nov. 14 at Fort Benning's Youth Baseball Complex.
Jackson, whose dad was in the Army for 23 years, lived at Fort Benning during his childhood.
"A majority of my childhood I was raised here," he said. "I played all the sports. I did everything here. I pretty much molded into my young adults life here."
It is because of his childhood connection to Fort Benning that Jackson started the youth baseball clinic.
"I like to come back and let them know I understand the lifestyle," he said. "I understand how it feels to have to move around and make new friends and have your parents deployed."
More than 325 children came to the clinic. Jackson said having the opportunity to impact the lives of children growing up in the military is priceless.
"It's one of those things you can't really put a price tag on, to see the expression on their faces, to see how excited they are, to see how happy the are. At the end of the day it's just to let them know they aren't forgotten. People do think of them."
The clinic was led by professional baseball players and coaches from the Atlanta Braves, Detroit Tigers, Houston Astros, Tampa Bay Rays, San Diego Padres, Chicago Cubs, Texas Rangers, Montreal Expos, as well as players from Point University and Shaw High School.
Jackson said he hopes exposing kids to professional athletes will teach them that dreams can come true.
"We're all humans and anything is possible. They think it's impossible for them to get at the level we are at in life, but we come out here to let them know that anything they want to do, anything they put their mind to, they can do it," Jackson said.
Willie Horton was among the professional athletes who participated in the clinic.
Horton played left field for the Detroit Tigers for 18 years, including the 1968 season when the Tigers won the World Series. He said he enjoys giving back to the troops and even traveled overseas with Bob Hope in 1967.
"This has been a part of my life," he said.
Horton has been a part of Jackson's clinic since its start.
"This thing has grown every year," he said. " Getting involved with parents and Family, you see a lot of people coming together and I'm just grateful I'm still around to be a part of it."
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