Nov. 24, 2009

Although former Virginia fullback Dr. Jamshid "Jim" Bakhtiar was a standout on the football field for the Cavaliers, his devotion to others and contributions away from the gridiron are what set him apart.

Bakhtiar is one of this year's Dr Pepper Atlantic Coast Conference Football Championship Game Legends who will be honored at this year's ACC Football Championship Game weekend. The Legends will appear at the ACC Coaches and Awards Luncheon at noon on Friday, Dec. 4, and will be honored at the "ACC Night of Legends" held at the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay on Friday evening. They will also be recognized during ceremonies at Raymond James Stadium for the 5th Annual Dr Pepper ACC Football Championship, which kicks off at 8 p.m., Dec. 5 on ESPN.

When he left his hometown of Abadan, Iran in 1946 in the pursuit of an education in America, Bakhtiar was 11 years old. Unable to speak English well at the time, he found the game of American football at the Washington D.C. Boys Club and quickly gained acceptance.

During his freshman year of high school, Bakhtiar wanted to return to Iran to see his father. After nine months he returned to the United States, but before he left Bakhtiar shared his life goals with his father.

His first goal was to become a doctor, secondly he wanted to become an All-American football player and lastly his father suggested that he live alone and go on his own. At the time he didn't realize how much he would have to sacrifice, but when he got back to Washington, D.C., he followed his father's wishes and moved out of his mother's home and into a rooming house. From that point on he began to support himself by managing a gas station in Georgetown at night and attending Western High during the day.

"I kind of grew up a little bit faster than most of the other kids," Bakhtiar said. "I feel like I just did what I had to do, it felt good and I was able to just do it."

At Western High Bakhtiar would go on to become a very accomplished football player, earning All-Metropolitan and All-High School honors. To get him ready for college, Bakhtiar's coach at Western High helped him find a scholarship to play prep football at the Bullis School. That would turn out to be his ticket into Virginia. After playing in the Silver Bowl against the University of Maryland's freshman team, Harrison "Chief" Nesbit - Bakhtiar's eventual freshman coach at UVa - came over and told him that he was coming to the University of Virginia.

Bakhtiar was convinced after a visit to Charlottesville and realized how fortunate he was to have the opportunity to attend the University of Virginia and get the chance to go on to medical school.

"I chose Virginia because of its medical school and because of its history," Bakhtiar said. "I knew that I would be in an academic setting so I could balance things out and be an athlete as well as concentrate on my studies."

In addition to playing football at Virginia, Bakhtiar played on the lacrosse team boxed as a heavyweight and competed on the track team until the end of his sophomore year. After that, he decided to drop the other sports and turn his focus towards football and concentrate on getting his grades up so he could get into medical school.

On the football field, Bakhtiar - or the "Persian Prince" as he was affectionately called - was a standout on both sides of the ball, as well as special teams, where he served as kicker for the Cavaliers. He would regularly play all 60 minutes, never coming off the field. As a linebacker Bakhtiar would punish opposing offenses, but it was at fullback where he really shined. From 1955-57, Bakhtiar racked up 2,434 yards and 13 touchdowns for his career.

"He was pretty typical of the better players in that era in the sense that you played both ways. There was a tendency of the coaches in that time to think that if you were a good fullback then you were also a good linebacker," former Virginia quarterback and teammate of Bakhtiar, Nelson Yarbrough said. "He was a very rugged, determined and driven player. He was basically our offense, and he was one of the better players on defense. He was a marked man every game, and in spite of teams ganging up on him, he was still able to set records."

By the time he graduated, Bakhtiar held then-ACC records for rushing yards, attempts, and most 100-yard games. For his efforts he received many accolades, including being named All-ACC second team in 1955 and All-ACC first team in '56 and '57. After rushing for 822 yards in his senior year, Bakhtiar led the ACC in rushing and earned first team All-America honors. He was also a team captain, a three-time letterman and an Academic All-ACC selection during his time at Virginia. In 2006, Bakhtiar was awarded the Football Writers All-America Alumni Award and will have his jersey retired by Virginia on Nov. 28, 2009 in the game against Virginia Tech.

"He was really the `bread-and-butter' of Virginia's offense for the three years that he played, and of course back then you had freshmen football so you could only play three years," former UVa teammate of Bakhtiar, Reece Whitley said. "The whole three years he was there it was Bakhtiar right and Bakhtiar left, Bakhtiar right and Bakhtiar left. He was the kind of guy you wanted to have on your team."

Being named an All-America by the Football Writers Association allowed Bakhtiar to cross off another goal on his list. The one that remained was to become a doctor. To earn enough money to pay for medical school, Bakhtiar decided to go to Canada and play in the Canadian Football League for the Calgary Stampeders. In only one season playing professionally, he rushed for 991 yards and earned the team's most outstanding player award. Despite his success at the next level, Bakhtiar hung up his cleats and returned to Virginia to pursue his dream of becoming a doctor.

With that chapter of his life behind him, Bakhtiar was ready to embark on his lifelong mission of helping others. In 1963 he graduated from UVa medical school, with a degree in psychiatry and in 1974 went back to his home country of Iran to teach and start the first modern psychiatric unit.

When the Islamic revolution began to take hold of the country, Bakhtiar and his family were in jeopardy. In a middle of the night raid, Bakhtiar was taken prisoner by revolutionary guards and endured a month of interrogation before being released. Without saying a word to anyone, he took his family and decided to flee his homeland. Fearing his son would be drafted into the war against Iraq, Bakhtiar left everything he owned behind to come back to America.

"I saw the young Iranians with their legs and arms cut off so I got very, very scared that God forbid my son was going to be sent over in that war," Bakhtiar said.

At 5 a.m. one morning he told his son they were going on vacation, and without packing anything they left Iran for the last time. After traveling to a small town by Jeep, Bakhtiar and his family made the rest of the arduous three-day journey to the Turkish border on horseback - riding through the mountains at night while hiding out in caves during the day. Because he had left everything he owned in Iran, Bakhtiar returned to America with nothing. In Charlottesville his Cavalier family was there to help.

"Once he got back to Charlottesville, there was a nucleus of former coaches and former teammates who were able to help," Yarbrough said. "One of our linemen was a developer here and he gave him a house to live in. Other people put forth money to get him back on his feet so he had a lot of support in this area."

With help from his friends and family, Bakhtiar bounced back and began to practice psychiatry again. Now he dedicates his life to helping others and currently works at a psychiatric hospital in Charles Town, W.Va., in addition to running a small private practice on the side.