Jackson Nascimento

Jackson Nascimento was born on 24 August 1924 in Paranaguá, on Paraná's coast, only months after Club Athletico Paranaense was founded in Curitiba. He grew up in nearby Antonina, where his father, José Tomaz (also spelled José Thomaz / José Tomaz do Nascimento in sources), helped found Clube Atlético Antoninense and passed on a deep Athletico loyalty. Jackson later joked that even the family dogs were painted red and black. As a boy he moved to Curitiba to board at the Liceu Rio Branco. Through the boarding-school director Aníbal Borges Carneiro, an Athletico supporter, he entered the club's youth sides. A bout of typhoid interrupted early engineering studies and sent him back to the coast; when he returned he switched to law, graduating in 1951 while already a professional footballer.

He turned professional with Athletico as a midfielder in 1944 and formed a celebrated left-side partnership with winger Cireno Brandalise. Both were right-footed; both shared the birthday 24 August. Jackson was often captain. When Athletico adopted shirt numbers ahead of the 1950 World Cup, the left half received the number 10, remembered by club historians as the club's first camisa 10. State titles came in 1945 and, above all, 1949. That Paraná championship side tore through opponents with a run of ten straight wins and 49 goals in 12 matches under coach Motorzinho. The local press dubbed the team Furacão (Hurricane), the nickname that stuck to the club. Jackson scored ten times in that campaign and helped create countless more. The players were jokingly graduated as "doctors of football," with diploma, ring, and a formal ball. He also won the Belfort Duarte fair-play award (silver medal for professionals, 1950) for a career without a sending-off.

In 1950 Athletico sold him to Sport Club Corinthians Paulista. In São Paulo he played two seasons (sources commonly 1950-1952), scoring 35 goals in 57 matches according to club and Meu Timão / Almanaque do Corinthians figures. He was part of the 1951 Campeonato Paulista title side whose attack scored 103 goals in 28 games; English and Portuguese Wikipedia also list a 1952 Paulista title. He then returned to Curitiba, reportedly willing to play for Athletico for free, and in 1953 finished as Paraná state top scorer with 21 goals. Club and recent death coverage credit him with 150 goals in 215 matches across both Athletico spells, second only to Barcímio Sicupira; some earlier tallies (including EN Wikipedia and some GE features) cite 143 goals in 196 matches. He remains among the leading Athletico scorers in the Atletiba derby (often listed with 15 goals, tied with Marreco in some club stats).

His last Athletico appearance came on 21 April 1957, when he scored in a 2-2 draw with Água Verde at the Baixada. Sensing he had become "a fan on the pitch," he hung up his boots around age 30, briefly took charge after Filpo Núñez's dismissal, and in 1958 returned with Caju and Pedro Sthengel Guimarães (Stengel) to help win another Paraná title from the technical staff. Through the late 1950s and 1960s he served Athletico in technical and administrative roles, then settled as idol, counsellor, and lifelong supporter while practising law and serving as a federal prosecutor. More than lawyer or prosecutor, he insisted, he was "the Jackson of Athletico."

In 2024, club and player shared a centenary year. Athletico honoured him at the Arena da Baixada (Ligga Arena): a mosaic of his face, a commemorative shirt patch, a pitch visit, and a symbolic goal. He sang the club anthem at family celebrations and stayed lucid into his 100s. After his wife died in 2021 (name not published in the major profiles used here), he moved to Santa Catarina's coast to live with daughter Vera Helena. Granddaughter Letícia Klein and great-granddaughter Gabriela "Gabi" Klein, a young forward in Avaí Kindermann youth football who dreams of playing for Athletico, kept football in the family conversation.

Jackson Nascimento died at home in Camboriú, Santa Catarina, around 00:30 Brasília time on 9 September 2026, aged 102. Letícia told GE that for four or five days he could no longer eat or swallow and that he faded "like a candle going out," with family at his side. He was the last living member of the 1949 Furacão. Athletico and Corinthians issued official notes of mourning the same day. His body was taken to Curitiba for burial at Cemitério Água Verde; Athletico offered the Arena da Baixada for a wake, with the family to confirm arrangements. No formal clinical diagnosis beyond age-related decline and the family's account of final feeding difficulties was made public.

This page remembers only Jackson Nascimento (1924-2026), the Athletico Paranaense and Corinthians footballer-lawyer born in Paranaguá. It is not a page for other Jacksons or Nascimentos in football, nor for lawyer Jackson Andrew Nascimento Sousa or other LinkedIn homonyms. Santina named in a GE centenary series title is a different Paraná centenarian, not his wife.