Raiders' manager of team services Kim Jackson hangs out with his good friend Bernie in the Brandt Centre in Regina. (Facebook/Kim Jackson)

By Jeff D’Andrea

Jackson of all trades

‘Kimbo,’ the Raiders’ unsung hero

May 7, 2021 | 5:00 PM

Kim Jackson’s official title on the Prince Albert Raiders’ website is “manager of team services.” What that actually means is he does pretty much everything behind the scenes that athletic therapist and equipment manager Duane ‘Puff’ Bartley doesn’t do.

Jackson does the team’s laundry. He takes care of the dressing room. If you’ve ever enjoyed a beverage at one of the Art Hauser Centre bars or suites, Jackson most likely put that can in the fridge or set up the keg. He drives players to and from the airport following a trade or returning from a tournament. Shortly after the Raiders acquired Konrad Belcourt from the Kelowna Rockets, Jackson drove Belcourt’s vehicle–which did not have its heater working– in the dead of a frigid, prairie winter to get it back to the rink.

But Jackson has done it all with a smile for the past 10 seasons.

Nobody ever calls him “Kim” or “Jackson” in between the rink’s walls, as he’s exclusively known as “Kimbo.” He’s the team’s big teddy bear that everybody around the team can’t help but gravitate towards. If he sees you at the rink, expect to hear a loud and warm “how are ya?!” He loves the Raiders and the Raiders love him back.

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“We have a good staff here. We have a lot of good guys right from Curtis [Hunt, general manager] and Mike [Scissons, business manager] and the coaching staff, our front office staff, and the players. We have a lot of good people here, right from day one,” Jackson said. “When we started building our team for the championship year, that was something special. We’re down to just a couple of those guys now. But our young guys are a good group, we have a good future here.”

When the WHL announced all East Division games would be played at the Brandt Centre in Regina in the Subway Hub Centre, that added a ton of extra work for “Kimbo” on his already long and literal laundry list. The same could be said for ‘Puff,’ as he and Jackson got to know each other even more so throughout this season.

Kimbo Jackson was usually wearing his Adam Herold Legacy Foundation mask, in honour of late Raiders prospect Adam Herold. (Facebook/Kim Jackson)

Jackson said he worked up to 15 hours a day in the hub centre, especially when the Raiders had an 8 p.m. game. He would get to the rink at 7:30 a.m. to prepare for the pre-game skate. After everything was sanitized and torn down, Kimbo and Puff would take a break at around 3 p.m. for their lunch break. They’d come back to set up for the game at 5 p.m. and likely wouldn’t get to retire until at least 1:30 a.m., if not later. That’s a 15-hour day. Sometimes, Jackson would have to head back to the rink the next day at 7:30 a.m. again if the team had another morning skate.

In his time in Regina, Jackson quickly became an expert in the art of sanitizing. With a sanitizing gun that looks like it came out of the Ghostbusters’ universe, Jackson sanitized the bench, and the dressing room multiple times every game and practice day to make sure everybody on his team was safe.

To do the team’s laundry, Jackson would have to walk to the far side of the rink. With all the responsibilities and the foot-travelling he had to do, Jackson would walk up to 30,000 steps a day.

“He’s been a total godsend, handling all the stuff and the extra things,” Bartley said in the Raiders’ On Tap talk segment with voice of the Raiders Trevor Redden. “People don’t realize, even on the bench, the water bottles are individualized, but they’re individualized per-period, per-game, so you can never use the same water bottle twice. They have to be sanitized after every period. The benches have to be sanitized. When the players go out on the ice, the room has to be sanitized. The glove driers have to be sanitized. He’s constantly on the move.”

Even though it was more than a week since Jackson and the Raiders were able to return from the hub and get back to their homes after an eight-week grind, Jackson said he was still recovering and resting from the trip.

In the summer of 2019 when the Prince Albert Raiders won the Ed Chynoweth Cup, Kim Jackson toured around Western Canada with the cup to visit the team’s players. Here’s Jackson visiting then-Raiders captain Brayden Pachal in Estevan. (Facebook/Rhonda Pachal)

But Jackson’s time with the Raiders hasn’t all been about grinding in the background. After the Raiders won the Ed Chynoweth Cup in 2019, then-Raiders captain Brayden Pachal said, “’Kimbo’ had the greatest summer of all time” as he got to tour with the cup. Jackson was in charge of making sure the Raiders players from Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba all had a great time with it. Jackson recalls that cup summer tour as one of the obvious highlights of his career.

Long before he started working for the Raiders, he was in the stands watching the team play as a youngster. And now that he’s joined the team and wears the crest on his chest every day, Jackson doesn’t see his attachment to the team weakening anytime soon.

“As a kid, they’re your idols. I remember coming and watching Chris Phillips and all those guys,” Jackson said. “It’s probably the relationships you build. The friendships you made with all the office staff over the years, with all the coaches—I’m still good friends with past coaches. When we won, everything circled together.

“I just keep coming back for more.”

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Jeff.dandrea@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW