Retired five-division world boxing champion Terence “Bud” Crawford of Omaha recently received a lifetime achievement recognition from Pipeline Worldwide, a nonprofit that supports community building in Uganda, Africa.
Pipeline is led by his former fourth grade teacher from North Omaha, Jamie (Fox) Nollette, whom he calls a mentor and mother figure. She describes him as being like a son to her.
There is his biological family, his boxing family, and the family that he, Nollette and her own family comprise. It is a love story founded on trust that started in his childhood, then endured a nearly two-decade separation before they reunited for his climb to prizefighting glory. Just as his career took off, so did her U.S.-based nonprofit’s work in Africa. Crawford, who capped his career last fall with a fifth title and 42-0 record, has accompanied Nollette on three trips to Uganda. He planned a fourth earlier this year until an Ebola outbreak postponed it to next June.
The pair’s unlikely story of devotion has its roots in his turbulent childhood. As a student he sometimes disrupted her Skinner Elementary School classroom. Instead of merely disciplining him, she listened to his story and learned the source of his pugnacious acting out was a chaotic inner city home and neighborhood life and a need for engagement.
His problematic upbringing – he got into street fights and was kicked out of five schools before graduating Omaha Bryan – included flirting with gangs. He got shot at and as a young adult took a near fatal bullet to the head. Athletic competition provided stability. He excelled at wrestling and basketball but eventually settled on boxing. The same drive and hunger he displayed at school he parlayed into boxing success.
“Did I know he was going to be a world boxing champion? No, I didn’t know that,” Nollette said. “But I thought he was special for sure and super likable. Fun to have. And he was very competitive back then, too. Oh my gosh, whether during games, at recess, in the classroom, whatever it was, he wanted to win.”
Crawford has clear memories of how this white, middle-class woman did what other educators up to then didn’t do for him.
“I remember anytime I would get into it with somebody or I was having a bad day she would send me outside in the hallway to let me cool off,” he said. “She’d talk to me and ask me what’s going on, if I’m alright, do I need a second. Then she’d let me come back in the room. Those things stuck with me because I was so used to (harsher, less compassionate reactions). Her really wanting to know what was going on just showed me that she cared.”
It wasn’t like that with most other adults in elementary school and later in high school who called the school resource officer on him or sent him to the principal’s office. Whenever a disturbance happened, he said, he’d be blamed and get in trouble.
The exception was her classroom.
“She knew sometimes I just needed to cool off and take five,” Crawford recalled. “Then when I’d come back everything was cool.”
About the same period she became a calming, guiding presence at school, community fixtures like wrestling coach Joe Edmonson and boxing coaches Carl Washington and Midge Minor taught him tough love. Learning discipline and respect took time but eventually came under their tutelage. Looking beyond the anger there was much to like about his rambunctious youngster.
“Yes, he got in a lot of trouble,” Nollette said. “But there’s a difference between being naughty and a troublemaker versus having a lot of energy and wanting your attention. He was always eager to learn. He was the first one to jump in and try something. He wanted to be picked. Then he’d ask a million questions. He still does. He’s inquisitive. That’s something I love about him.”
Years passed without them being in contact. She left education and Nebraska to start a new life in Arizona. She got motivated to serve overseas after hearing a speaker at her church describe his nonprofit’s work in East Africa.
“It inspired me to sign up for a mission trip.” It was second nature to volunteer and serve, she said, “because growing up it was a value I learned from my parents.”
She co-founded Pipeline with fellow Omaha native Chris Carrell in 2010. It’s been life-changing work.
“My passion is to transform lives in some of the most vulnerable communities in the world. It’s way more than education – it’s developing meaningful relationships and transforming lives and entire communities,” Nollette said.
Since her first visit to Africa two decades ago, she estimates she’s been to the continent more than 30 times. Her first-hand experiences led to Pipeline focusing on Northern Uganda. While her new role as an NGO leader played out, her unforgettable student rose through the ranks of the welterweight class to become a contender and then champion.
Nollette was unaware of his pugilistic success until 2014.
“My best friend who taught right next door to me at Skinner is the one who kept me up to date on our former students,” Nollette said. “She was kind of following Terence and she mentioned, ‘I don’t know if you know, but he’s doing really well in boxing.’” Nollette was thrilled the boy from the hood others wanted to give up on made good at something. She let him know she admired how far he’d come.
“I messaged him on Facebook, ‘I don’t know if you remember me, but I was your fourth grade teacher, and I just want to say, I’m proud of you, I’m following you, you’re awesome.’”
He responded ASAP. He hadn’t forgotten her warmth and concern.
“Oh, I remembered Jamie,” Crawford said.
Scrolling through her Facebook, he was intrigued to see she did work in “the motherland.” They exchanged messages.
“He asked me first, ‘Will you come to my fights?’ I said, “I’m actually going to be in Africa during your next fight, but I’m flying back to Omaha, so let’s go have lunch.’ So we did. At lunch he asked, ‘Will you take me to Africa?’ I said, ‘When do you want to go” and he was like, ‘How about next week?’ We went six weeks later,” Nollette recalled.
Just as it was for her, his inaugural visit to Uganda made a deep impression.
“When I went the first time it was definitely a life changing event seeing those people in need,” he said. “It makes you appreciate the things that you have looking at those individuals that don’t have anything but who are still happy. It definitely opens your eyes and makes you realize how materialistic we are and how we take things for granted.”
Nollette’s work led her to prioritize doing something more comprehensive than building freshwater wells and donating medical and hygiene supplies, which Pipeline did at the start and still does. It has expanded into sanitation, nutrition and food security in the poorest rural regions where these and other basic needs require infrastructure and organization.
“In order to try to drive the most impact we either had to continue doing one thing and doing it really well in a broader area or focus on a full community transformation,” she said.
Thus, the Moyo District in northern Uganda is where Pipeline concentrates on bridging those gaps as well as the need for training that helps residents learn trades that pay living wages.
“This area where we work is very remote and inaccessible,” she said. “You have to take a ferry across the Nile to get there. There’s not opportunities for learning, whether healthcare training or construction training. It’s not available. People have to leave and can’t really afford it. So we decided to bring training there.”
A trait Nollette shares with Crawford is being unafraid to take on steep challenges. Just as he never ducked the toughest opponents available to him – cementing an already legendary career by soundly beating favored Canelo Alvarez last September in Las Vegas – Nollette opted to base Pipeline operations in a region other agencies avoid.
“We chose the west Nile region of Northern Uganda because it’s the area of greatest need. It’s where other aid groups don’t go – it’s too hard to reach. It’s a lot harder, the needs are much greater, but that’s precisely why we chose to go there,” she said.
The Lonyi Village humanitarian lodging and training campus Pipeline is building there will address nutrition, energy, healthcare and trades training and economic needs.
“We’re doing on the job training right now as the campus is being built. Ninety percent of the people helping build that campus are from the village there. We’re giving them the opportunity to earn as they learn. They’re developing some practical skills,” she said.
Pipeline partners with PALM Corps on the Moyo Sawmill Project to give trainees work skills they can apply locally. Another Pipeline partner, Cooperative Growth, runs initiatives like the Manuela Project that supports children with disabilities and their families through physiotherapy, skill-building, creative workshops and greater inclusion.
The region’s remoteness also means limited access to orthopedic surgery. Pipeline helps bridge that medical care gap with partners SIGN Fracture Care International and Smith+Nephew.
In order to meet needs as they arise, Pipeline’s become more nimble.
“With the recent (Ebola) outbreak in the Congo there became an immediate threat to this area,” Nollette said, “and we needed to expedite what we’re doing so we could become a regional healthcare training hub.”
Pipeline now collaborates with the Infectious Diseases Institute at Makerere University to strengthen healthcare and workforce development across the West Nile subregion. Partnerships make it all possible and Pipeline’s earned trust with some 250 completed projects and a four-star rating from Charity Navigator.
“You can’t do these things alone and in isolation,” Nollette said. “We try to identify the most important needs by working with the people living there. We try to just go alongside them providing resources and support.”
The first phase of the 3.4-acre Lonyi Village campus is operational thanks to a major donation Crawford made at Nollette’s request.
“I reached out to Terence really nervous to ask him,” she recalled. “I told him what we need to finish it and he said, ‘How much?’ And he sent it. It was that easy. He didn’t even hesitate. He always has people asking him for things. But since he’s been there, he understood that it was something that could be transformational to this region and also in the global scheme since Ebola is an emerging health threat.”
Crawford confirmed his response was immediate, “because I know the need over there – those individuals really need the help. from the kids to pregnant women, just in terms of basic healthcare and knowledge. Going and seeing how there’s nothing there, yeah I knew it’s definitely needed. So it was a no brainer for me to help out.”
The Innovation Learning Center his donation helped create consists of two classrooms built as a simulation lab within an industrial container shipped there. The labs are used to help train a new generation of healthcare workers.
The project’s contractor and subcontractors are all Omaha-based. JE Dunn Construction managed the project. PML Construction built the units. Miller Electric donated the electrical work. The University of Nebraska Medical Center’s Global Center for Health Security consulted on the design and programming to make it a flexible, impactful space for training.
“We packed $25,000 worth of equipment for our welding and construction trade programs as well as eight incubators and delivery beds from Nebraska Medicine for our simulation classrooms,” Nollette said of the 2025 shipment.
Crawford is grateful to Nollette for affording him opportunities to live his purpose of giving back.
“Jamie is still teaching me along the way outside of the ring and the classroom,” he said. “She’s gotten me to see myself as the role model I am and to continue on the right path and not do some things I was once doing before we reconnected. She’s put me in position to develop relationships with people that have helped me with my finances and just with life in general. I love that our relationship has grown from her being my fourth grade teacher to where it is now. It will only get greater as we get older and stay connected.”
Nollette sounds like a proud mom when speaking about how proud she is.
“I’ve watched him make choices with such maturity and growth,” she said. Like a mom she’s sure to chastise him, too, when he does something he shouldn’t, like his habit of driving too fast (he’s been charged with reckless driving a few times).
In her role as a close confidante, she served as president of his B&B Boxing Academy board and continues being an advisor. When approached with opportunities, he consults with her. That included the University of Nebraska at Omaha asking him to be its 2025 graduation commencement speaker.
“I didn’t want to do it,” he said. “Jamie talked me into it and I’m glad she did because it’s things like that that led me into doing what I’m doing right now – broadcasting, talking in front of the camera and millions of people at home.”
The ex-fighter is now using his pugilistic expertise as part of the Ringside crew for TNT’s “The Fight” series and getting rave reviews for his ability to breakdown opponents and offer real insight into fight strategies and dynamics.
When approached by TNT, he said, “I didn’t want to do that either.”
Nollette convinced him to try it and now he enjoys it.
“He’s good at it,” Nollette said. “The thing about that is people who aren’t close to Terence don’t know his personality. He doesn’t like interviews. He doesn’t like the limelight. But the more he’s been doing it people are like, oh, he’s funny. They’re getting to know him. They’re seeing this side of Terence that those of us who know him appreciate.”
His coming out started with that UNO address at Baxter Arena before 2,000 graduates, plus thousands more family and friends.
“It would have been easy for him to say no. He had nothing to gain to deliver a speech that long (15 minutes),” she said. “It’s something he’d never done and that’s a hard thing to do in front of that many people. He’s way more comfortable to get in the ring and fight than to get up in front of people and give a speech. It meant exposing himself.”
The thought of doing it reminded Crawford how intimidated he was by speaking in front of others.
“I used to get in trouble when teachers asked me to stand up and read,” Crawford recalled. “I was always shy. I was like, I don’t want to do that.”
Just as Nollette cajoled him way back then to give it a try she did the same with the UNO speaking opportunity.
“Jamie was like, ‘You’re going to be great, you need to get out of your comfort zone.’” She said she shared with him a mantra she lives by: “Do hard things,” adding, “I told him, You can do it, you’ve already done hard things.’”
“For sure,” agreed Crawford, who gained notoriety for his high-altitude workouts in Colorado Springs and for going across the pond to win his first title by beating Ricky Burns in the U.K.
By making that speech, Nollette said, “Now it’s another thing he can say he did.”
His talk was well received.
“Yeah everybody loved it,” Crawford said. He’s still getting feedback eighteen months later. “People come up to me and say things like, ‘Thank you for doing that,’ or ‘Hey, I appreciate you, I took a lot of notes on what you said.’”
In his remarks he gave a shoutout to Nollette, a 2026 UNO Citation Alumni Achievement honoree, for all she does. Why single her out publicly?
“Because everybody has these role models and mentors that helped them grow in life,” he said. “You may not grow as much without them in your life. You’ve got to give them the credit they deserve and show them that you appreciate everything they’ve done for you. You want to show the world that you didn’t do it alone – that you had help along the way. And a shout is not going to cost you anything.”
The favor was returned when Nollette presented him with Pipeline’s lifetime achievement honor. Just as she shared with attendees his generosity, he used her example of serving others as a model for UNO grads to expand their horizons and achieve great things.
“It’s all about the good you put into the universe when you’re helping people in need,” he said. “I told the graduates to follow Jamie’s lead because if there were more people doing what Jamie’s doing it would make the world better.”
He’s doing his part to uplift his own community through his B&B Boxing Academy in North O that serves hundreds of youths. An expanded facility is on the drawing board.
“Plans for the new youth sports center are in progress,” he said. “Hopefully we’ll start the fundraising soon and get the building built.”
He knows there’s keen interest too in his plans for the former OOIC property on North 24th Street that he acquired a few years ago, but he isn’t ready to announce anything yet. “Everybody wants to know what I’m going to do with it.”
Nollette is proud of the man he’s become and how invested he is in the community.
“I’ve watched him really grow up and continue to choose to be a better human being and make good decisions,” she said. “And that’s what people need to talk about. I’ve told him many times he’s an easy person to love and want to cheer for because nobody works harder than he does at anything. He’s always striving to be better. Family means a lot to him and he’s very loyal.”
His approach to those Uganda trips, she said, demonstrates his curiosity.
“He does his homework, he watches the Discovery Channel, he reads about it. He’s a lifelong learner. He’s constantly wanting to learn, and that’s with everything. He not only wants to know about the people we are seeing, he wants to know about the country we’re going to.”
He’s also visited Egypt and Tanzania and intends on seeing even more of Africa.
“I want to go all over Africa,” he said. “I love to travel, I love to learn about the people, I love to learn about the culture.”
Nollette has seen him put his house in order inside and outside of boxing.
“As his fame was increasing as he had more and more success in the ring he wanted to know about managing his finances, knowing what to do, how to create a budget, how to invest. He wants to know and he doesn’t want somebody to do it for him,” she said.
The same with his schedule. Instead of employing a personal assistant, he does it himself.
Like most ex-teachers Nollette’s lost track of most of her former students. But with Crawford, she’s not only back in touch, but the two are in each other’s lives.
“As a former teacher there’s not a lot of kids you reconnect with decades later and stay connected with to get to see their story,” she said. “But with Terence I got to watch it unfold.”
She also appreciates his personal investment in her Pipeline endeavors.
“He doesn’t just ask others to help. He goes there himself to see with his own eyes and then chooses to support the people and projects that need his help,” she recalled. “This is so unique. Most people just choose to use their influence, but Terence makes the time to go and become personally involved. It’s been a game-changer for Pipeline Worldwide and deeply meaningful for both of us.”
Through it all, the championships, the mega pay days, the parades and accolades, Nollette has witnessed Bud remain Bud.
“What I love about Terence is that he has remained humble throughout his growing fame. He stays true to who he is and is not willing to compromise what’s important to him.”
Just as she’s come to know him in deep ways only longtime friends can, the Ugandans she’s come to know have enriched her life.
“The relationships we make are the most important part of this meaningful and important work,” she said, adding she feels privileged working in a humanitarian ecosystem with “the hardest-working, generous, kind, and loving people I’ve ever met.”
“Isn’t that what we all want?” Nollette asked. “I’m grateful that this is my life and it’s absolutely shaped me into who I am today. Authentic, meaningful relationships are kind of what this life is about. Why you’re here on Earth is investing in people who you want to spend time with and kind of getting to do life together.
“I had no expectations of this (their relationship) developing the way it has. It’s just been very organic. To see him go from all the things he’s gone through in his life to be where he’s at, and I’m not even talking about boxing, it’s been so rewarding.”
Bud’s counting the days until their next adventure together.
“I’m looking forward to going to Uganda again with Jamie next year. I’m all about being there for Jamie and helping the people Pipeline reaches.”