Hi, everyone. For numerous reasons, I haven't posted on this website since many years ago, when it was BaylorFans.com. However, I was just awakened in the middle of the night by a phone call from an old friend who told me that I had better take a look at this particular thread on the forum message board ASAP. He said that someone had posted a message accusing me by name of having been a drug dealer.
So, I logged on here, for the first time in probably 7 years or more, and I read the posts on this thread. Sure enough, I found a post by someone going by the name of TacoBellmead. His posted message referred to me by my full name, Jack Chambers, and further identified me, correctly, as the person who started the tradition of lighting up Pat Neff in green lights after athletic victories.
In the post, it said that I "ran White China." I googled that phrase and discovered that it is a term for dealing heroin.
Let me set the record straight. I have NEVER had ANYTHING to do with ANY illegal drugs. (I will say more about that FALSE accusation later in this post.)
Back in the 1980s (over 30 years ago) I got into some bad legal trouble (civil and criminal) because of some wrong things I did in my financial activities, including writing hot checks. I am ashamed of that chapter of my life. I am especially ashamed of the discredit I brought on my family, on my church, on Baylor University, and on other various people and organizations with which I have had any connections or associations.
I paid a dear price for having done those wrong things back then, with some severe consequences. But, fortunately, the Lord and a lot of people gave me another chance in life. And since that time, I have done my best, with God's help, to try and live an honorable life, though I have still stumbled, here and there.
And in the years since that chapter of my life, I have tried to bring credit to any organization or individual with which I am associated. That includes Baylor University.
Also, though I was publicly critical of the way Baylor basically became independent in the 1990s, I buried that hatchet long ago. And since then, I have done many things to support and promote Baylor over the years. I am a loyal fan who attends many Baylor sports events. I am a member of the Bear Foundation. Also, I have been an independent radio talk-show host on Baylor's football affiliate in Houston (AM 1070), for many years. In fact, though my radio show is mostly about things to see and do in the Houston area and at various travel destinations, I often do Baylor-related stories, reports and interviews, which are designed to promote a positive image of Baylor in general, and of Baylor athletics specifically.
In fact, over the last year or so, as Baylor has endured the vicious attacks to its reputation, including many distortions and outright falsehoods published and broadcast by the media, I have diligently worked behind the scenes to try and help Baylor's image. I have contacted numerous colleagues in the local and national media and urged them to correct inaccuracies that they have made when reporting on the various scandals that have emerged from Baylor.
So, it's especially confusing, awkward, embarrassing and painful when any fellow Baylor fan brings up something about my shameful past, from more than 3 decades ago, especially in a public arena like an internet message board. That's one of the many reasons I stopped posting on BaylorFans.com many years ago.
Many posters on this site didn't like me, didnt like my opinions, didn't like my long-winded posts (like this one... ha!), didnt like the way I communicated, etc. But, unfortunately, instead of just disagreeing with me, some posters did their best to discredit me and hit me below the belt by posting messages about various things they had heard about the troubles I got into years ago. Some of those things were true; some were exaggerated; some were false. But it was always embarrassing and hurtful to see those things posted about me.
So, for that reason and many others, I stopped posting here years ago. But, prompted by the late-night phone call, I log on this site tonight and see that a new low has been reached. Someone on this message board has publicly accused me of being a drug dealer.
As God is my witness, I have never, ever had any involvement with any type of illegal drug (not even marijuana), as a user, nor a dealer. NEVER. I have never been charged with, accused of, or investigated for anything having to do with any illegal drugs. In fact, before I read the post tonight which accused me of being a heroin dealer, I had never heard any such accusation about me.
Let me say something directly to TacoBellmead, whoever you are. I am going to give you a break. I am going to assume that you are the unfortunate victim of a phenomenon that frequently occurs in life, where someone gossips about something, and they pass it on, and it keeps getting passed on, all the while being distorted each step along the way. Maybe that's what happened here. Maybe some gossip over the years about what I actually got in trouble for became distorted to the point where someone told you I had been in trouble for dealing drugs. And, since it's so easy to post things anonymously on an internet message board without checking one's facts and considering the damage that might be done by posting hearsay, you impulsively jumped into the conversation here and repeated something about me that you may have heard somewhere. And you didn't stop to think about how inaccurate your statement might be, and how hurtful and damaging it might be to someone... and a "someone" who is, in this case, a loyal Baylor fan.
So I forgive you for what you did. I started to post a message threatening to pursue legal action against you for posting such a libelous accusation about me. But I'm not going to do that. I forgive you.
I do ask, however, that you do me the courtesy of posting a retraction and an apology. That is, unless you have some solid basis for which to accuse me of dealing drugs at any time in my life. And I assure you that you have no such evidence.
To the rest of you... now you know (as Paul Harvey used to say on the radio) "the rest of the story."
Please pardon the length of this post. But surely you'll agree that this particular matter warranted a lot of space for me to respond.
Oh and, by the way, my screen name here is, and always has been, Backtojack. It is not Back2Jack, nor B2J, nor any of the other bogus screen names that some have created over the years in attempts to impersonate me in bogus posted messages.
I look forward to the upcoming football season and have high hopes for Matt Rhule and his staff and our football team. I have season tickets, as I have for many years, and plan to attend most or all of our home games and maybe even 1 or 2 away games.
Sic 'em, Bears! Adios.
Jack Chambers
Houston, TX
Attended Baylor 1977-81
(Majored in Music, then switched to Communications. Didn't graduate.)
My radio show's website: www.HoustonAndBeyond.com