Special to Knoxville Magazine

Jack Hanna and his family lived in what was then an isolated rural area out by Ten Mile Creek on Ebenezer Road, where they operated a large animal farm called Bu-Ja-Su.

Special to Knoxville Magazine

"Jack is a great person. What you see is what you get. He's an incredible people-person, friendly and in tune to people's feelings. It translates to how he is with animals. They trust him, too, and he's worked so hard to protect animals all over the world."

-- Philip Fulmer, Former UT football coach and a friend of Jack Hanna

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He was just a little boy growing up in 1950s Knoxville who loved animals, loved watching "Wild Kingdom" on TV on Sunday nights hosted by distinguished globetrotter Marlin Perkins, imagining what it would be like to be him or one of the show's intrepid correspondents, out in the big, wild world of lions and tigers, elephants and antelopes, giant snakes and huge creepy-crawly spiders.

Jack Hanna is one of those persistent and lucky fellows who kept such childhood dreams close to his heart and made them come true.

Today, 62-year old Jack Hanna is director emeritus of the Columbus Zoo, a world-renowned naturalist and animal expert, and an educator and entertainer whose face, personable demeanor, unpretentious style and gentle southern accent have become familiar to people far and wide from his numerous public appearances on the "Late Show with David Letterman," "Good Morning America," his two children's television series, and a multitude of other shows and venues.

"I had two dreams when I was a little boy being raised right outside Knoxville," says Jack. "I dreamed about being a zookeeper some day, and I dreamed of being like Marlin Perkins. It's hard for me to believe I've been able to travel every continent in the world. I've lived two dreams. Not many people can say that. It all started in Knoxville, Tennessee."

Jack's childhood animal-adventure dreams began to form when his parents, Ross and Caroline, moved the family from a close-in Knoxville subdivision to, what at the time was, an isolated rural area out by Ten Mile Creek on Ebenezer Road off Kingston Pike. The family named the large farm Bu-Ja-Su, after the three children's names Ñ Bush, Jack and Sue. Jack says it was a magical place to grow up, a landscape of woods, streams and animalsÐlots of animals. Horses for the kids to ride, donkeys, goats, dogs, rabbits, pigs, chickens. As his childhood years went by, the size and number of the animals increased, as did their exoticism.

The late Knoxville veterinarian Dr. Warren Roberts turned out to be one of the most influential people in Jack's life. Dr. Roberts was the Hanna family's veterinarian when Jack was a kid. He worked out of the Knoxville Animal Clinic and was also the vet for the then tiny Knoxville Zoo. He allowed Jack, with his father's permission, to begin coming to the clinic during the summer and assisting him. Even at the tender age of 11, Jack was in no way deterred by the fact that his assistance consisted largely of cleaning animal cages.

Dr. Roberts gave Jack more responsibility as he got older. Jack remembers the days when he'd accompany the vet to perform his duties at the zoo as the most thrilling, especially so when they dealt with the facility's star attraction Ol' Diamond, the largest African bull elephant then in captivity.

Since Jack struggled with academics, his father decided a different environment would be good for him and arranged for him to attend the Kiski School, a private boys' boarding school in Pennsylvania.

"I'd never been away from my family," recalls Jack. "My parents were very close to me, but they put me on a plane, and I didn't come back home for about six months. It turned out to be the greatest thing that ever happened to me. It was a very difficult school. I worked my butt off. I gained independence. I learned a lot about life."

Jack earned a bachelor's degree from Muskingum College in Ohio and returned to Knoxville with a diploma and, more importantly, a new bride Suzi Egli, whom he had met at the school. The next few years were up and down for Jack as he tried his hand at several business ventures that failed. He finally achieved a measure of success with a new pet store. Pet Kingdom opened in 1971 and did well, but Jack's luck soon took a turn for the worse.

Knoxvillian Linda Ramsbottom took her three-year-old son Matthew out to Jack's farm to see all the bigger animals, including Daisy, the 300-pound lion Jack had raised since she was six weeks old. It wasn't unusual for locals to visit Jack's farm to gaze at the impressive animals from the other side of a substantial chain-link fence. On this particular day in 1973, little Matthew managed to stick his arm through the fencing, and Daisy simply tore it off. Matthew received prompt medical attention and fully recovered, but his arm could not be reattached. Though Matthew Ramsbottom and his family were clearly the victims, Jack's psyche did not come away unscathed. Jack says he lives with the memory of the incident every day of his life, but that the psychic wound inflicted by such a traumatic event was greatly salved in 1988 when Mrs. Ramsbottom sent an extraordinarily gracious letter to him letting him know that Matthew was a typical, fun-loving teenager and a freshman at UT. "It was the best letter I've ever received," says Jack.

Just months after the Daisy incident, Jack got his first position as director at a tiny zoo in Sanford, Florida. Five years later, he became director at the larger, though at the time still modest and decidedly rundown, Columbus Zoo in Ohio with which he's been associated ever since. It was there and then that Jack's remarkable rise to zoological prominence and media stardom began.

Jack's fame has spread in the decades since those early days. Eventually, Jack began appearing on "Good Morning America" and David Letterman's late-night talk show. These appearances brought national attention to the amiable zookeeper and his zoo and continue to do so. The television series "Jack Hanna's Animal Adventures" began national syndication in 1997 and is now the longest-running and most-watched syndicated wildlife show in the world. Jack created a new show in 2007, "Jack Hanna's Into the Wild," which features Jack, his wife Suzi and three daughters Kathaleen, Suzanne and Julie, traveling around the globe to learn about animals. Jack is the executive producer for the show.

Even considering his promotion of wildlife and conservation, popular TV series and numerous television appearances that have educated people worldwide about animals, the hundreds of speeches he's given and numerous books he's contributed to, including a new autobiography titled Jungle Jack: My Wild Life, Jack says the proudest thing he's ever done, outside of family, is develop the Columbus Zoo. "I played a role in creating, with a great team of people, a magnificent zoo. I've left a legacy here that millions of people can enjoy for generations."

Jack's pride is not misplaced. The zoo had almost closed in 1978 shortly before he arrived, but annual attendance has increased by more than 400 percent during his 16-year directorship. It has continued to grow in stature and size with Jack's continuing association as director emeritus no doubt contributing to that success. Columbus Zoo and Aquarium is now the largest zoo in the United States and ranked number one in the country just weeks ago by USA Travel Guide. A $29 million waterpark addition opened last year.

Jack also played a role in the development of the Knoxville Zoo. Dr. Bill Patterson and he formed the Appalachian Zoological Society back in the late 70s as a support organization for the zoo. Though he has no official connection to the zoo anymore, he remains in contact and recently contributed to the foreword for the book on the Knoxville Zoo for the "Images of America" series. "I'm also very proud of my small participation with the early days of the Knoxville Zoo," says Jack.

Jack has lived in Columbus now for more than 30 years and also has a cabin in Montana close to Glacier National Park. A third home sits about 8,000 feet up in the Virunga Mountains in the African nation of Rwanda where he works to protect the area's dwindling population of mountain gorillas. He is also involved in other naturalist work in Rwanda and has helped build an orphanage and school there.

Truth be told Jack's most frequent residence is a motel room. His television projects and other public appearances require him to travel worldwide some 260 days a year. Not surprisingly, he can't get to Knoxville often. He was here in 2006 for "An Evening with Jack Hanna" at the Tennessee Theatre and in 2007 for a sadder occasion, the funeral of longtime friend and former Webb schoolmate Rick Keen. Jack admits it's hard for him to see how the landscape of the city and surrounding area has changed his hometown so much.

"My eyes teared up the last time I was there, trying to find the old home place. When you're raised on a creek and a farm and there's nothing else around for miles, and you come back and can't find any trace of the way it was, it's hard. When I was a little boy, it was like a dream being raised there. The creek, the fields, the animals. The dream is gone. My home place isn't there anymore."

Despite lamenting the lost idyllic Knoxville of his youth, however, Jack still appreciates his hometown. "I've always loved Knoxville. It still has that country feel. It has the Tennessee River and the Smoky Mountains close by. You can still feel close to nature there. And the people are very friendly. It's a beautiful place, and there's still a lot of orange in my blood."