Before KJ Jackson Became a Savannah Bananas Star, His College Coach Already Saw the Showman

Kyle “KJ” Jackson may look like someone who was built in a laboratory for Banana Ball.

The smile. The energy. The athleticism. The willingness to turn a baseball game into a performance without forgetting that, underneath all the entertainment, he can really play.

But according to the college coach who knew him years before the Savannah Bananas, none of this is particularly new.

Jeff Duncan coached Jackson at Kent State University, where KJ was not yet a viral Banana Ball personality. He was simply an extremely talented college baseball player from Bowling Green, Ohio—although, apparently, even then there were hints that something a little different was going on.

“Kyle always had a theater to him, a theatrical to him,” Duncan told Banana Ball Insider. “He played with a lot of energy. And so this is perfect for him. The Bananas is a perfect fit for him.”

That may be the simplest explanation for why Jackson has become such a natural fit in Banana Ball.

The performance came later.

The personality didn’t.

Before the showmanship, there was a serious ballplayer

Duncan’s first memories of Jackson have very little to do with dancing.

They have to do with hitting.

“For one, he was an incredible talent,” Duncan said. “The talent that you see on the field was very similar to what we saw in college baseball.”

Duncan remembered Jackson as a player who seemed particularly comfortable when the game got uncomfortable.

“He was known to be very clutch,” Duncan said. “He had many big-time hits for us at Kent State.”

One still sticks with him.

Kent State was hosting the Mid-American Conference Tournament and facing Western Michigan in the opening round. The Golden Flashes were down two runs.

Jackson came to the plate and changed the game.

“He had a three-run homer for us to beat Western Michigan in round one of the MAC tournament,” Duncan recalled. “But that was just one of many big hits that he had.”

It is an interesting piece of KJ’s story because Banana Ball can sometimes make great baseball players look almost accidentally talented.

The dancing, celebrations and trick plays get clipped and shared.

The underlying baseball résumé can disappear behind them.

Duncan doesn’t see Jackson that way.

“He can run. He had power. He was a left-handed hitter and he had arm strength,” he said. “Super athletic.”

And Duncan went considerably further.

“If he didn’t have a back issue, he could be in the big leagues,” he said. “That’s how talented he was.”

That is the assessment of someone who knows what professional talent looks like.

Duncan played nine seasons of professional baseball himself, including time in the major leagues with the New York Mets, and has coached dozens of players who were eventually selected in the MLB Draft.

So when Duncan talks about Jackson’s ability, he has a fairly substantial comparison group.

KJ the babysitter

Then Duncan offered the detail that might tell you more about Jackson than any batting statistic.

KJ used to babysit Duncan’s children.

“When my son and daughter were young, he babysat them,” Duncan said.

Naturally, there was only one appropriate follow-up question:

Was KJ actually a good babysitter?

Duncan laughed.

“Yeah, no, he was a great babysitter.”

It’s a tiny story, but perhaps an important one. Oh, I should admit, his kids told me KJ was the best babysitter they had.

The public version of KJ is enormous. Banana Ball is designed to amplify personality, and Jackson has plenty to amplify.

But Duncan remembers the player off the field, too.

“He was a phenomenal kid to coach,” Duncan said.

Duncan also remains close enough to Jackson and his family that he saw KJ’s parents before the game.

“Great people,” he said. “Small-town Ohio, Bowling Green, Ohio.”

And he still follows his former player.

“It’s been so cool to see his journey,” Duncan said.

Maybe Banana Ball didn’t create KJ. Maybe it revealed him.

There is a tendency to look at Banana Ball performers and assume the entertainment environment transformed them.

Sometimes it probably does.

Jackson’s story suggests something slightly different.

Banana Ball may simply have given certain parts of his personality more room.

“What you’re seeing in Banana Ball is exactly how he was as a player here,” Duncan said.

That line is worth sitting with.

Because it helps explain why KJ doesn’t look like a traditional baseball player awkwardly attempting to become an entertainer.

The baseball player and the entertainer were apparently there at the same time.

Kent State happens to have some of that same DNA.

Duncan described the Golden Flashes as a program that plays with energy and takes enormous pride in its baseball tradition. Kent State reached the College World Series in 2012 and has produced a long list of professional players.

Duncan sees a connection between his program’s personality and Jackson’s.

“We play with a lot of energy,” he said. “Just like you see Kyle Jackson—his brand, our brand of baseball is very similar.”

There may be no better evidence of that relationship than Duncan himself showing up to watch.

College coaches send players out into professional baseball every year.

Some make the major leagues.

Some move into coaching.

Some disappear from the sport altogether.

And every once in a while, one becomes a Banana.

Kent State currently has players in Major League Baseball.

Duncan is proud of them.

But he also sounded pretty delighted about the other alumnus.

“We have three guys in the big leagues,” Duncan said, “and one guy in Banana Ball—Kyle Jackson.”

Not a bad alumni list.

And perhaps not as strange a career destination as it initially sounds.

Because years before the Savannah Bananas discovered KJ, Jeff Duncan had already seen the ingredients:

A talented baseball player.

A clutch hitter.

A terrific athlete.

A good kid.

A babysitter.

And, importantly, a little bit of a showman.

Banana Ball just gave him a bigger stage.

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