Editor’s note: This is the ninth in a series of stories highlighting the inductees into the 2019 class of the Limestone County Sports Hall of Fame. The hall of fame banquet is 6 p.m. Saturday, June 8, at the Limestone County Event Center in Athens. The Hall of Fame’s Martha Jo Leonard Golf Tournament, sponsored by The Orthopedic Center, is 1 p.m. today, at Canebrake Golf Club in Athens.

Jesse Lockett wasn’t one to just focus on one sport. He wanted to do it all. And he did it all well, which led to his induction into the 2019 class of the Limestone County Sports Hall of Fame.

Lockett was a dominant figure in just about every sport at East Limestone High School from 1971-75. He starred on the football, basketball, baseball and track teams. Lockett earned All-Conference honors as a quarterback for the Indians’ football team. He was also a standout basketball player, scoring 1,258 career points. He was named Limestone County Most Valuable Player his senior season.

“Jesse was a great athlete,” former East Limestone Principal Paul Hargrove said. “He played just about every sport their was and excelled in all of them. You look over his resume, and he was quite the athlete.”

Lockett knew he had been nominated for the Hall of Fame for several years, but he didn’t know if or when the day would come when he would be inducted. When he finally received the letter in the mail, the emotions got the best of him.

“I got home one evening and went to the mailbox and saw this letter from the Limestone County Hall of Fame,” Lockett said. “When I opened the letter, it began with, ‘I’d like to congratulate you,’ and I knew that I was in. I didn’t have to read the whole letter. It brought tears to my eyes, really. It was very emotional and was a very proud moment.”

Hargrove, who was principal at East Limestone while Lockett was there, was one of the ones who nominated and pushed for Lockett to be in the Hall of Fame. He said Lockett was just naturally gifted at anything he did.

“He could do it all,” Hargrove said. “He never really got a day off, just went straight from one sport to the next. That’s the way it was back then. You didn’t have much of a choice if you wanted to play. If you were a good athlete, you just wanted to play everything. There wasn’t much else to do but just play. That’s the way Jesse was.”

Lockett said he didn’t really think much of playing four different sports. He was just doing what he loved to do.

“I just went with the flow,” Lockett said. “If the coach wanted you to play, you played. You stepped up, from basketball to football to baseball to track.”

Lockett, now a strategic planner for the Army Material Command at Redstone Arsenal, said he is looking forward to Saturday’s banquet. Hargrove, now 84 and unable to get out much, is one of the people who hopes to be there to congratulate his former student in person.

“I sure am proud of him,” Hargrove said of Lockett. “I’m going to try to make it (to the banquet) for Jesse. It will be a proud moment for him and for East Limestone.”