Volleyball Magazine Features Chris Jacobson
9/19/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Volleyball
By Mike Miazga, Volleyball Magazine
October 2007
Reprinted with permission of the author.
On this particular day, former Pepperdine men’s player Chris Jacobson is at the Farmer’s Market in
“It’s the
Jacobson then stops a phone interview with a reporter to respond to a voice in the background.
“No I can’t tell you, sorry,” replied Jacobson to the female voice.
His secretive reply was in response to whether he won the competition on the Bravo hit television show “Top Chef 3 Miami.” At the time of the inquiry, filming for the show, which according to NBC Universal is seen by more than 2 million viewers weekly, had concluded, but the show was still airing weekly on the NBC-owned network. As of press time, Jacobson was still in contention for the reality show’s championship.
The winning chef will receive $100,000 in seed money to help open a restaurant, will be featured in Food & Wine and will earn the title of “Top Chef.”
“The experience was amazing,” said the 31-year-old Jacobson, who resides in
Jacobson, who stands 6’8” and helped Pepperdine reach the NCAA title match in
“I saw some big
In addition to attending culinary school, Jacobson’s travels in the industry later took him to places like Axe in
But Jacobson, who goes by the moniker “CJ” both on and off the show, says his time at Campanile was especially beneficial.
“Working there was the equivalent of coaching under (Pepperdine men’s coach) Marv Dunphy,” said Jacobson. “You learn the right way to do things and that eliminates a lot of the BS. It was the school of hard knocks. There were some very dedicated people there who do it because they love it.”
Jacobson said in this arena, height hasn’t gotten him anywhere.
“In volleyball they say you can’t teach tall,” said Jacobson. “Here you can’t teach short. Everything is designed for people who are 5’6”. I elbowed my boss once on accident in the forehead and left a big goose egg.”
Jacobson was also taken to the school of life’s hard knocks in 2005 when he was diagnosed with testicular cancer. After surgery and radiation, he’s now cancer-free.
“They caught it very early,” said Jacobson. “If it isn’t caught, it can metastasize to other parts of your body. They did find a weird mass in my lung the size of a lime—keeping with the culinary theme. They did blood work and were still mystified by it. They said the lesions were caused by having a lot of adrenaline. I called my friend Mike (former Cal St. Northridge player Lees) and told him they told me I had unusual amounts of adrenaline and said I could still be dead asleep and have way more fire than you.”
His illness opened his eyes on a lot of fronts.
“It was a huge reality check for me,” said Jacobson. “You hear about a lot of stuff with cancer. I was a best-case scenario. I would go to radiation treatment and see people in there who were way worse off than I was. I’m a lot happier guy now. I don’t dwell on stuff too much anymore.”
Jacobson’s illness also made him adjust his career path somewhat.
“I started going the private chef route,” said Jacobson, a graduate of the Le Cordon Bleu Program at the California School of Culinary Arts in
Jacobson feels his days at Pepperdine under the watchful eye of Dunphy have come in handy in terms of his career path.
“Marv made me the guy I am now,” said Jacobson. “He did things early on when I was there. He was always asking you, `What’s your plan this year? In three years? In 10 years?’ I used to get irritated by it, but those are the things that are paramount to your development. He was giving us a skeleton itinerary for success. Marv taught me extreme focus and toughness and to never show weakness. He taught me to never worry about what other people are doing and to focus on what you are doing. The biggest thing he always said was, `Next play. Next play.’ With my cancer I kept telling myself to, `Keep going. Keep going.’”
Comparatively speaking, Jacobson says “Top Chef ” mirrors his time on the court at Pepperdine in many ways.
“I love pressure,” said Jacobson. “I love a challenge and I love the competition. In one challenge we had we were given equal parts seafood and land meat and had an hour-and-a half to make a surf and turf dish. As a chef you are kind of a control freak with the contents you cook. When they take you out of your element, that’s something I thrive at. I like being down in the big game and having to come up with the big block. It’s what separates the men from the boys.”
