Tiffany Jackson, an All-American forward for the University of Texas women’s basketball team who played nine seasons in the WNBA, died Monday in Dallas. she was 37
The cause was cancer, the university said.
Jackson noticed a lump in one of her breasts in 2015 while playing overseas during the WNBA offseason in Israel. She postponed the Tests until her return to the United States, and even then not until after the season started for the Tulsa Shock of the WNBA.
“I didn’t tell my teammates until the playoffs,” she told ESPN in 2016, “because I knew that after Game 2, win or lose, I had to go back to Dallas to start treatment. I ended up telling everyone via bulk text message because I was afraid that if I did it in person I would just break down.”
Jackson was a powerhouse player at the University of Texas, where she was the only basketball player in school history to score at least 1,000 points, grab 1,000 rebounds, and have 300 steals and 150 blocks. She ranks fifth overall with 1,197 points.
“What set her apart was her versatility,” said Jody Conradt, who coached the Texas women’s team from 1976 to 2007, in an interview. “She was 6-3, very mobile and could play multiple positions. But that was secondary to her competitiveness – I don’t think I’ve seen a player as competitive as Tiffany.”
During her four years in Texas, Jackson averaged 15.6 points and 8.4 rebounds per game. As a freshman, she helped lead the team to the Sweet 16 Round of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament in the 2003-04 season.
Her 2004-05 season was her strongest, averaging 18.3 points and 8.7 rebounds per game.
Tiffany Jackson was born on April 26, 1985 in Longview, Texas. Her mother, Cassie Brooks, had played basketball for the University of New Mexico; Her father, Marques Jackson, had been a close finish at Tulsa University.
At Duncanville High School near Dallas, Tiffany led the Pantherettes to a state title in 2003 and scored a team-high 16 points in the championship game shortly after being named a McDonald’s All-American.
Jackson was recruited vigorously from more than 60 colleges. One coach said the school that signed her would immediately become a championship contender.
“That’s a big statement, and I feel good that people think so highly of me,” Jackson told The Austin American-Statesman in 2003. “It makes me work harder to prove them right.”
While the Longhorns never won a national title, Jackson’s star was undiminished. Drafted by the New York Liberty with the fifth overall pick in the 2007 WNBA draft, she played with the team until she was traded to the Tulsa Shock (now the Dallas Wings) in 2010. She played a final season with the Los Angeles Sparks in 2017.
She averaged 6.2 points and 4.5 rebounds per game throughout her career. She was at her best in 2011, with career highs of 12.4 points and 8.4 rebounds per game.
Jackson cut short the 2012 season to give birth to their son Marley. She sat out the 2016 season for breast cancer treatment that included radiation and a mastectomy.
“After that first month, I never thought I wouldn’t play again,” she told USA Today in 2017. “So I always exercised throughout my treatment. It was something that kept me going.”
Information about their survivors was not immediately available.
After Jackson retired as a player in 2018, he became an assistant coach at the University of Texas for two seasons. That year she was named the head coach of the women’s basketball team at Wiley College in Marshall, Texas. She died before she could coach a game for the team.