Tiffany Jackson, former WNBA player and all-American at Texas, dies at 37

Jackson is also an All-American at Duncanville, Texas High School, whose coach tweeted Monday night that she was “an amazing mother, daughter, friend, teammate and so many role models.” Did.

A three-time All-American for the Longhorns from 2003 to 2007, Jackson advanced to Suite 16 of the 2004 NCAA Tournament and was a member of the 30-5 Texas team that was named ESPN’s National Freshman of the Year. . She is the only player in the history of Texas women’s basketball to record at least her 1,000 points, 1,000 rebounds, 300 steals and 150 blocks.

“Tiffany had a great career and was an influential player,” said Jody Conrad, a former women’s basketball coach in Texas who retired after Jackson’s senior season. Recognized for the fact that she is very mobile and can play multiple positions, she was loved by her teammates and we share the grief of her passing.”

A 6-foot-3 forward, Jackson was drafted by the New York Liberty and spent three seasons with the team before being traded to the Tulsa Shock in 2010. In 2011 with shock.

Jackson was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015, and after the cancer was in remission, played one more season in the WNBA in Los Angeles in 2017. He retired at age 32 and spent two years as an assistant coach in Texas.

Jackson had been playing in Israel during the WNBA offseason, but discovered a small lump in early 2015. When she returned to Dallas, she saw a doctor, but didn’t have a mammogram.WNBA As the season was about to start, she later told ESPN… she became concerned when she realized that had changed. Jackson, who she was married to at the time, was the mother of her young son, and she had undergone 16 rounds of chemotherapy.

“My little boy is 3 years old and I don’t quite understand what’s going on.” she told ESPN in 2016“He asks what kind of Band-Aid I got from the doctor, only knowing that there will be days when he’s going to be with his grandmother. They give me another one with Spider-Man or Scooby-Doo on it.” My son loves it.My husband works in East Texas, so he has a long commute.There’s a lot to manage.”

Jackson used his Stage 3 diagnosis to try to raise awareness about the disease.

“You hear ‘breast cancer’ and you think you understand it,” she told ESPN. “But you can’t really understand it until it’s closer to you. Or ,return home.

“It wasn’t even on my mind, really. I’ve spoken in college, especially in the African-American community, because there’s less early screening, which means you’re diagnosed when you’re at stage 3 or stage 4, and you have a higher mortality rate. I have preached it.”